Public Outreach

The files herein are from ASEM's early years of Outreach and contain photos and accounts of some of our earliest members.   - JT

Public Outreach Activities

Most of our public outreach is facilitated at our "Friday Night Open House" events at Broemmelsiek Park.  For large groups (50+), we will consider bringing scopes to your event. For requests for a telescope outing, or if a large group (50+) plans to come to Broemmelsiek, please email  Outreach@asemonline.org .     For those who would like to help support our efforts to bring astronomy to the public, free of charge, please consider joining our society ($50) or otherwise offering your support.  We are a tax-deductible 501-3c charitable organization.   Membership application 

Lewis & Clark Elementary - Cuivre River State Park - October 9, 2017

posted Oct 10, 2017, 8:13 AM by Jim Twellman

About 100 kids plus teachers and counselors were entertained at Camp Sherwood.  A few clouds threatened occasionally, and distant 'heat lightning' seen in the south.  A good amount of dew for awhile, but overall a really good viewing night.  We got started at 7pm, which was a little early and provided only Saturn in all 4 scopes for nearly 30 minutes.  We enjoyed a pass of the ISS at 7:35, and a decent Iridium Flare at 8:02.  By then the Milky Way was gorgeous!  The Andromeda galaxy was about 40* up and could be seen naked eye.  Stacey Thater brought a 6" Newtonian and a 4" Maksutov.  I had my 8" SCT and the Nolan 12" dob.  In addition to Saturn, we showed Mizar, Albireo, Messier 22, M13, M31 and a few others.  Plenty of oohs and ahhs.  We lost Saturn to the trees before the last two classes came out. We finished just after 9PM and enjoyed a few more views before we left.  I was surprised to see color in M27 in Stacey's 6", very cool.  I was home by 10pm.

Folks were often reminded that we do this (for free) every clear Friday night at Broemmelsiek Park.

Jim Twellman

"Discovery Days" - Oct 6, 2017

posted Oct 7, 2017, 1:57 PM by Jim Twellman

For arguably the 5th year in a row, "Discovery Days" was clouded out.  Discovery Elementary has been expanded twice since we started supporting this event, and now several classes double up on us.  At one time, 3 ASEM members handled this nicely.  We had 5 members supporting this event this year and I don't think we'd have wanted any less - indoors anyway.   We set up at the end of a hallway, near a door where we could unload.  Unfortunately, it was also the parent drop-off driveway, so we had to wait until that cleared (which wasn't long enough until start-up).

For indoors presentations we had earth and moon globes, Educational Solar science banners from NASA,  telescopes and binoculars to look thru, a PST to look at, and computer map simulator of the earth in space.  Volunteers for this event were Eddie Agha, Amy White, Marv Stewart, Mike Pusatera, and myself.  Mike's two kiddos were among those who came thru.  Sixteen classes of 3rd thru 5th graders were served.  Approximately 25 students each (plus teachers), came thru for a total of 400.

This is a great annual event, but is always disappointing for us not to be able to go outside and observe the REAL sun.  Maybe next year?

-- Jim Twellman

Progress Elementary - October 2, 2017

posted Oct 3, 2017, 7:54 PM by Jim Twellman

While you were at Camp Cuivre River (for Dardenne Prairie Elementary) last night, Steve Boerner and I were at the Camp Sherwood Forest (for Progress South Elementary), and had just a great time and great view!   The ooh's and aah's from the kids were there, as I remember in the past.  It was again an uplifting experience to give the kids a thrill to look thru a good scope to see details of an object they normally can only see pictures of.

First, the weather was near perfect: clear skies, a light breeze, low humidity, and no mosquito's!   What?  Yeah.  The skies of course were lit up with the moon, but the moon was not yet full, so the craters was target #1 in my 8 in newt, and when Saturn popped, it was target #2 in Steve's 12 inch.  For the kids, this was a show in itself to remember.   Steve brought a small refractor for a full moon view, but it was unattended, and I had my red-lit poster board with a SkyMap chart and standard flyer intro on the club and Star Party etiquette (rules), but the operated scopes were the show.

For those who haven't been to one of these, the kids, at this camp, are brought in small organized groups 25 (approximately).  In our case, that was 5 groups of 25 coming every 20 minutes.  Add teachers and camp counselors and you had a group of at least 30.  The group was broken into 3 sub-groups for each scope.  Yes, Progress South has 125 5th grade'rs!  Quite amazing.  What this means is besides a short intro discussion by the principal, Steve and I, there is just enough time for one kid to look thru each scope to view one object on that given scope.  If we had another operator/scope owner, that would have been one more object the kids would have had a chance to view.  I agree, 3 staffed scopes would have been best, but we had a great show, despite the limitation.

Thanks for helping to make this happen.  I think the Ft. Zumwalt camp program is great experience for the kids.

Tom Richards

Dardenne Prairie Elementary - October 2nd 2017

posted Oct 2, 2017, 10:45 PM by Jim Twellman

David Lloyd and I were at Camp Cuivre last night with Dardenne Prairie Elementary - About 75 people (57 students, plus teachers and counselors) looked thru scopes and binos at Camp Cuivre.  David  and I provided views of the Moon, Globular Cluster Messier 22 in Sagittarius, Globular Cluster Messier 13 in Hercules, the double star Mizar, and Saturn.   Equipment provided included 25x100 binos, 8" SCT, and the Nolan 12" dob.  The kids came out girls first, then the boys later.  They were well behaved and it was super cool to hear the "wow's", "cool's", and "oooh's" that we heard tonight.  I drafted a teacher to man my 8" SCT which was tracking Saturn very well at 145x.  The support and interest of the teachers was great.

The weather was just about perfect.  Unseasonably warm for October, but a nice breeze (which occasionally rocked the image of Saturn in the 8").  Very clear and very enjoyable.

Jim T

August 21, 2017 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

posted Oct 2, 2017, 10:38 PM by Jim Twellman

ASEM participated in the Total Eclipse with the St Charles County Parks at both Broemmelsiek Park (1' 35") as well as at Klondike Park (2' 14").  The parks were sold out for reservations (1000 each), but we estimate about half that number actually attended.  The heat, as well as traffic, were real issues and once the public had their eclipse glasses they were free to watch it wherever they wanted.  Weather forecasts for the St Louis area were less than great, and a lot of locals changed plans and bugged out to Kentucky and Tennessee.  Too bad, as the weather here was pretty darned great.  

Lots of great photos taken, I got to witness "Shadow Bands", the 360 degree "sunrise/sunset", cicadas going NUTS, as well as the solar corona and the super-cool ability to look at the Sun with a telescope with no filter, and see prominences without a filter.  Some amount of high cirrus clouds prevented it from getting as dark as we'd hoped.  Venus was easily seen before totality.  I noted seeing Regulus in my 80mm refractor during totality, but I recorded no other stars during totality.  It really goes by fast.

ASEM members helped other attendees observe the Sun, with sunspots, prior to and after totality. 

For more on these events, see the TSE website:  **2017 Total Solar Eclipse - August 21, 2017**

Lewis & Clark Elementary - Camp Derricotte - October 11, 2016

posted Oct 12, 2016, 10:28 AM by Jim Twellman

Approximately 120 kids, counselors, and teachers looked thru both my 16" dob and the 8" SCT at the Moon, Saturn, and globular star cluster M13 from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.  The sky quality was decent, but gauzy thin clouds occasionally made deep-sky objects look soft.  I heard a lot of "wow"s and "thank-you"s.  The leaders did a nice job of cycling and overseeing the kids.  Quite a large number seemed to want a "long drink" but time was short.  At this age, most should be able to see thru a telescope well, but I think the glare from the moon slowed down a number of kiddos last night when trying to first see.  Many references to FNOH and the 2017 Solar Eclipse were given.

Jim Twellman

Dardenne Elementary - Camp Cuivre - October 10, 2016

posted Oct 11, 2016, 8:07 AM by Jim Twellman

The skies cleared fairly nicely last night at Cuivre, with the sky mostly clear and fairly steady by 7:30pm.  I'd say about 10% clouds or maybe less. Over 80 participants enjoyed views of the moon, Saturn, Mars, M13, Albireo, and M31.  Lot's of "wow"s and a thankful crowd. Possibly equally thankful that the weather cleared and they didn't have to do square dancing "again".... I enlisted a pair of teachers to man the 8" SCT, which mostly tracked Saturn.  Their first view of Saturn was pretty joyful! 

Some kids, at the end of their nights' viewing, wanted to see the moon.  I obliged by giving them the 16" at 60x and they were laughing at how light-blinded they were in that eye when they left the telescope.  Cute!

Camp Cuivre is the only site that we can't drive real close to the observing area, having a nice ditch between the road and the ball field.  A little more challenging every year to tote stuff 40 yards, especially back at the end of the night and climbing the ditch in the dark at the point of loading.  Glad to have it all packed and ready again for tonight, the forecast remains favorable (20-30% cloudy).

Of all the Outreach that we do, I get the biggest kick out of this type of outreach.  5th graders, all now big enough to capably enjoy seeing thru a telescope, the joys they get from their first views of Saturn or M13, and teachers who can appreciate how this can inspire youngsters (and even themselves).

I spoke about our FNOH's at B-Siek, as well as the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.  We finished right about 9:00pm and I was packed and out by 9:30pm.

Discovery Ridge Elementary - October 7, 2016

posted Oct 11, 2016, 8:02 AM by Jim Twellman

"Discovery Days"

Steve's report:

-----------

As for Discovery Ridge...

We stayed inside.  The weather report called for cloudy for the later morning and partly cloudy for early morning.

We were scheduled to go between 9-12 in six different classrooms for 1/2 hour at a crack.  Sometimes the class we were to meet with was in PE/Art/Library/etc. when we arrived in the empty room. Some of the groups got 20 minute, some a bit longer.

Eddie walked them through some solar facts, light facts, color of the sun with questions/answers on their part.  I demoed my SuperSID antenna and solar storms.  I also pushed the 2017 Eclipse, library scopes, and FNOH.  The last part worked based on the turnout Friday night at Broemmelsiek.

From Wentzville School District's Facebook page:

Wentzville School District ·

Students at Discovery Ridge Elementary participated in the seventh annual “Discovery Days” during the week of October 3-7. The event, conceived by faculty members in 2010 before construction of the new elementary school was even completed, focuses on discovery in the physical world. “Discovery Days is an opportunity for our students to learn, explore, discover and imagine about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), with a special focus on space and flight,” said Discovery Ridge Principal Laura Bates.

On Friday, October 7th, the week culminated with activities that included students climbing in the cockpit of an F4 Phantom jet built by McDonnell Douglas. Other activities included Monsanto’s Marshmallow Challenge, Washington University’s MySci truck, science demonstrations by Mad Science, and solar scope viewing with the Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri. “During Discovery Days you learn about the planets in a very fun way,” said fifth grader Deo Reji. “I love Discovery Days every year.”

Additional events included a visit from the ARCH helicopter, Dino Odell’s science songs and the St. Louis Science Center Unisphere - a portable, inflatable mini-planetarium. The celebration concluded Friday night with the St. Louis Science Center’s Family Science Night and a pizza dinner. #STEMSunday

2015 PERSEID PARTIES

posted Aug 13, 2015, 8:50 PM by Jim Twellman

The 2015 Perseids were blessed to occur favoring the USA and on a nearly New Moon.  ASEM hosted two events.  The Cuivre River S.P. event was publicized in a small market, and the BP event was not publicized by the SCCP but got TV coverage at the last minute.  I'm combining both reports into this log.

CUIVRE RIVER STATE PARK:

We arrived at 7pm to find the gate locked.  My contact, Ranger Jaime (the "Interpretive Resource Coordinator") showed up in a few minutes to unlock the gate.  "Special Event" signs were posted along the main road in both directions.  Jaime said that they expected between 200 and 400, and I was a bit worried.  I set up and the crowd slowly trickled in after sunset.  At one point I doubted that we'd even have 30, but they just kept coming.  I had packed up for both scopes, but managed to leave the tripod for the C8 behind, so I only had the 16" dob.  Given how out of practice I am, it could have been worse.  I had brought my son to handle the C8, so he got to enjoy the meteor shower after all.

I showed Saturn for nearly an hour (starting around 8:30), then catered to other DSOs (M8, M13, M57, M27, Albireo, M22, and later on M51, M31, and the Veil Nebula (witches broom).  There were about 7 parks employees there, one with a clicker.  She had 115 at 10PM, and there were probably only 10 after that, so 125 is my count. Jamie had a loudspeaker, and told 'star lore' as well as meteor shower and comet information. 

I brought plenty of ASEM brochures and had several very interested parties. Several had some decent telescopes that they needed help with, and some had general (non-telescopic) astrophotography interest (particularly on shots of meteors).  I stressed the Beginner's meetings and A/P SIG to them.  I sounded off about Friday Night Open House every Friday night at Broemmelsiek like a broken record.  A private school in Winfield also mentioned a camp in September, expecting 100.  I directed her to our website on the brochure.

It was a very nice night, weather-wise.  We couldn't get completely away from headlight issues here of course.  My best views were the Veil and one GORGEOUS meteor that blazed and wiggled for about 45* before burning out.  They kept me busy at the scope, often with good questions, so I only got to see about a dozen meteors before packing out.

The work crew came last and got some of the best views.  I started tearing down shortly after 11pm and got out around 11:30, home by midnight.  From the sounds of the ooh's and aah's, I would guess that it might be one of the best Perseid nights in the past 6 yrs.  Around 10:30 I asked a couple of 20-somethings how many they'd seen and they answered 20 and 30 since 9pm.  The crowd was a bit thin on elementary kiddos, I expected more but back-to-school issues likely lowered their count.

Jamie had a strong interest in this, and she mentioned doing another event for the Sep 27 lunar eclipse.  We'll see.  Her husband is the CRSP superintendent.

Jim Twellman

BROEMMELSIEK PARK

823 people were clicked in by 1:30 am. The actual body count will be higher. There was a steady stream of cars coming into the park after midnight. Telescopes started getting business when Saturn popped into view.

ASEM people helping the public enjoy the Perseids were Lisa Barnes, Steve Boerner, Grant Martin, Stacey Thater, and Mark Shea. Jim and Ann Trull provided emotional support for the weary scope handlers. We were so busy, I could not leave the telescope and chat with folks.  Rangers were called fairly early, as parking became crazy right after sunset.

Well so much for the thought of not pushing the Perseids and only 100-200 visitors!  I don't think there were more that 200 at any one time, but there was a steady stream in and out pf the lot all night long with cars parked everywhere.  I know that before the ranger showed up cars left without parking not knowing that they could park on the grass over by the entrance. There were lots of headlights and flashlights going everywhere.  Quite a few people set up out in the lot and east of the entrance road.

Since we didn't "push" the night, the crowd must have heard about the event from elsewhere where we have no influence...TV, radio, etc. (Note:  Fox 2 News broadcasts at 5 and 6 pm were at Broemmelsiek LIVE with Anna Elise Parks talking about the Perseids, before we were even set up).

The shower is a yearly occurrence and in the future we should plan on a crowd whether it really happens or not.   While it was a small minority, I do know some visitors were upset with the lack of parking and crowd control.   The 2016 Perseids are on a Friday night/Saturday morning with the Moon at 77% full and setting at 1:46 a.m. on the 13th.  Both Saturn and Mars should be visible before midnight.  The timing next year should mean a double whammy of FNOH and Perseid crowd.

For our part, we promoted the event in Facebook. The top 5 Perseids related posts caught more than 3600 reaches.  When I left at 3AM, they were still rolling in. I'm pretty sure that over a thousand folks went through between sunset and sunrise.  When I left, I policed the area and found only two beer cans, two soft drink cans, an empty bottle of wine and a wrapper for those self illuminating wrist bands. Not bad for a crowd that size.

(compilation of individual reports from Amy W., Steve B., and Grant M.)

Spencer Road Library - "Here, There, Everywhere. The Bending of Light."

posted Apr 30, 2015, 8:31 PM by Jim Twellman

Chuck Simms and I put a special program together by request of the St Charles County Library District.  It ran from 7pm until 9pm at the Spencer Road Branch.  The first hour was a 30 slide PowerPoint program built around the title of the program, showing both natural refraction and man-made refraction, and telescopes in general.  Part of this highlighted ASEM, Broemmelsiek Park, and the upcoming Library telescopes (one of which was front and center). 

The second half of the program (after it got dark) were views thru telescopes.  Chuck had his 10" dob and I had my 8" SCT.  We gave them views of the gibbous moon, Venus, Jupiter, and the double star Castro.  Thirty-seven people attended and they were very appreciative. 

Jim T.

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Bald Eagle Watch at Hideaway Harbor - 2/28/15

posted Mar 10, 2015, 7:35 PM by Jim Twellman

It was a very cold morning, but there was a very good turnout by the public, around 50 people total.  Ken Gotsch, Melinda Simms, and myself were there with binoculars and one telescope, (ETX 90), to show those brave enough to come out an eagle close up.  One ranger, Bill, also had a small spotting scope out, and another person came out with a telescope for his own use.

We saw 5 or 6 eagles total, most were on the ice and hard to see, but several times one would sit in a tree and we would zoom in.  A young eagle sat in a tree for the last 45 minutes we were there, so my telescope was on him most of the time.

Two folks from the World Bird Sanctuary were there with an Eagle so we could really get up close and personal.  There was a large wood pile I thought would become a bonfire, but it turns out it was life-size eagle’s nest.

We all had to sit in our cars a few time to keep warm, and the parks department had plenty of hot cocoa for us to drink. It was cold but fun.

Chuck

Ken G.

Partial Solar Eclipse - October 23, 2014 at Broemmelsiek Park

posted Oct 23, 2014, 8:54 PM by Jim Twellman

Clouds were fairly thick and discouraged many, but we were still successful at observing this partial solar eclipse and sharing the views with nearly all who came.  Our telescope operators (Amy, Steve, Kirk, Stacey, Chuck, and myself) came early and set up.  We were joined by Nancy G. of the County Parks.  It was difficult to set up with very little to no visible Sun.  We managed to get lined up just before the eclipse, and Stacey announced the first contact pretty much right on time.

The eclipse occurred from 4:41pm to 6:11,pm but we were well-clouded at 5:41pm.  We did not get to observe the maximum eclipse (39% at 5:47pm), but we all got to see a large 'chunk" blocked (I'd estimate 25%).  Clouds were intermittent with observing from 4:41 to 5:41, with the clouds likely being more than 80-20 vs. the Sun.  We estimated that we had probably 50 visitors.

Steve manned a live web-link of the eclipse, with a laptop and monitor at the picnic table.  I brought some visual displays of today's Sun and also of the upcoming 2017 TOTAL solar eclipse.  We had a field of mostly SCTs today, including one from a visitor with his kids.  Amy, Kirk, and Steve were the exceptions.  It was a worthwhile overall effort, and the clouds did not 'skunk' us.  They sure did hold a lot of people back though.  Given the amount of time available to view the Sun this afternoon, we probably had just the right-sized crowd.

Jim Twellman

Photo below courtesy of Lauren Inman.  Photo taken with cell phone camera, hand-held, afocal, at 60x thru 8" SCT at f/6.3.  Sunspots off-center, and moon 'taking a bite' out of the sun.

Camp Tuckaho - 10/17/23

posted Oct 18, 2014, 12:17 AM by Jim Twellman

Carl Turek and I handled this event.  The skies were about 30% cloudy when we arrived around 5:40pm.  By the time we were set up, it was about 90% clouds.  The satellite views gave the impression it would soon get better, and finally by 7:30 it did and the lines started forming.  A few scattered clouds still hung around, but it was mostly clear for the next couple of hours until we were ready to pack up.  It was not a perfect evening, but it worked out pretty good, and we had some awesome views most of the time.

We showed off the Milky Way and pointed out stars and constellations with our laser pointers.  I asked frequently (as the groups cycled in and out) if any scouts needed help with astronomy awards. There were a few takers.  The most frequent request was to point out constellations.

We operated pretty steadily from around 7:30 until about 9:30, with a few stragglers afterwards.  We showed the Perseus Double Cluster in Carl's 4" refractor most of the evening, the double star Albireo (beta Cygni) in my 8" SCT (courtesy of volunteer help from Joe), and M13 (the great Hercules globular cluster) in my 16" dob.  I offered occasional views of M27 (Dumbbell nebula) and M31 (the Andromeda galaxy) in the dob, but showing M13 was much simpler.  I hesitated to move up from 60x to 200x due to the added work of moving the scope along more, but when I did so I had to acknowledge that the 200x view was astounding!  However, the view of M31 was pretty soft (poor seeing), but it was very visible to the naked eye (good transparency).

We were told that the camp had around 150 girl scouts and another 50 adults and others, and that pretty well fit my estimate with the time that we spent.   We invited many of them to our weekly events at Broemmelsiek Park.  We packed up and were out between 10pm and 10:15pm.

Viewing thru Carl's refractor:

DISCOVERY RIDGE ELEMENTARY - SOLAR EVENT - 10/10/14

posted Oct 11, 2014, 9:58 AM by Jim Twellman

Clouds and rain were prevalent on this day, with threat of lightning. So, we were assigned indoors  to a classroom.  The nice, long hallway previously used on such events was needed as a temporary cafeteria.  The good news was, we had a large window in the classroom.  In the distance, nothing but houses.  Ugh.  Fortunately, one was under construction, with roofers putting on a roof.  That became my target for the day in the 8" SCT.  I also had two easels with pictures of the sun, as well as my photos of the latest Venus and Mercury transits.  All seemed surprised at how VERY tiny Mercury was, relative to the Sun.

Steve B. brought along the club's PST, on his own mount.  That was primarily eye-candy for today. The kids were shown how it works and the kind of image of the sun that it puts out.  He presented various solar information regarding our nearest star on his laptop.

Marv performed an interactive exercise with the kids using roll of ribbon to show the size and extent of our solar system, starting with the Sun, then Mercury, then doubling the distances to each successive planet (and asteroid belt).  No doubt that the great distances were mind-blowing to many of them.

We entertained and instructed five 3rd and 4th grade classes between 9am and 11am. I believe the classes averaged 24 students per class.  So, approximately 120 students served.  All were informed of the Friday Night Open Houses at Broemmelsiek Park, and of the upcoming Partial Solar Eclipse event at Broemmelsiek Park on late afternoon Thursday, October 23, 2014.  Start of that eclipse is 4:41pm and lasts until sunset at 6:11pm.  Hopefully many of these kids will come out and see a show that MORE than makes up for the views of the sun that they missed today!

"Discovery Days" is an annual event at this school, with an emphasis on the sciences but also offering other types of discovery.   Per the school's website:

"On Friday the week culminated with activities that included a visit from retired USAF Colonel J.P. Morgan whose brother was an original Tuskegee Airman. Other activities included solar scope viewing with the Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri, and a Monsanto outreach program on sound and light. Boeing fighter jet pilots also shared with students what it was like to fly an F/A-18 Super Hornet built right here in St. Louis. Additional events included Dino Odell’s science songs and the St. Louis Science Center unisphere, a portable, inflatable mini-planetarium."

There was also a hands-on room for kids to learn and copy drawings of constellations.  These to be followed by an evening viewing the stars at Broemmelsiek Park (FNOH), but rain and a sky full of clouds caused this to be cancelled.

The kiddos were very well behaved, and nearly all were able to see thru the telescope easily.  It was fun to walk thru the hallways and see many colorful displays of our solar system, including planets, moons, and planetoids.  I hope that next year we can enjoy a sunny day and provide a much more interesting lesson about our nearest star, in the sunshine.

Jim T.

Family Camping - Indian Camp Creek Park - 9/27/14

posted Sep 28, 2014, 9:23 PM by Jim Twellman

Skies were clear at Indian Camp Creek Park. Campers young and old enjoyed the Moon, Saturn, Mars, and Milky Way objects as wll as M31. The youngest camper was only 19 days old! Rangers carted campers up to the observing site on hayride carts. The walk from the dining shelter was kind of long for little ones in the dark, so we did not get many walk-in campers. We entertained the campers from 7 to 10pm.

There was a lot of humidity, but that has been the case for the last two months of observing. We're sort of getting used to it. Still not liking it though.

Carl had his refractor going, Ed ran our C-8, and I worked the Astroscan with the kiddies.

The site we used for observing was very dark, as the Milky Way was easy to show people. All the Little Dipper stars were visible. The northern horizon at this site did not have big trees, so it was good for explaining Polaris and circumpolar stars to the campers. Whoever picked this site for telescopes, thank you!

There is a telephone tower topped with a REALLY bright flashing strobe to the south of the park.

Amy

----

There were 200 campers signed up for this weekend.  Gut estimate of telescope viewers was 100+, until otherwise submitted.

JT

Lewis & Clark Elementary - Cuivre River S.P. - September 22, 2014

posted Sep 24, 2014, 8:51 PM by Jim Twellman

A very nice evening for telescopes and kiddos.  I brought two scopes, my 8" SCT and my 16" dob.  I asked a teacher (James) to man the 8", and show the double star Albireo (beta Cygni).  I did a short talk as we began, and had a volunteer watching the clock and a spot in the sky.  A very bright (~ mag -6) Iridium Flare popped right on time just above Polaris at 7:54pm, and the crowd went wild!  An estimated 130+ enjoyed views thru the scopes from 7:45pm to 10:00pm.  This was a large crowd for just two scopes, and it was difficult for one person.

The location was Camp Derricotte, a wonderful site, limited only by tall trees blocking Saturn :-(  and one disturbing dusk-to-dawn light :-O  near the center of the camp.  I showed M13 in the 16" for all the kiddos.  After which, the teen counselors and teachers were invited back and they enjoyed views of M31, M27, M11, and M15.

There were some cirrus clouds early on, but they thinned out once it got good and dark.  The usual 'survey' of kids who've seen the Milky Way before (just under half), and they were all able to see it clearly on this moonless night.  There were lots of little "Wow!"s exclaimed throughout the evening.

Jim T

Indian Camp Creek Park - cub scouts - 9/19/14

posted Sep 21, 2014, 6:16 PM by Jim Twellman

About 40 scouts and parents showed up under good skies at 7:30pm. They were shown Mars,Saturn, the Andromeda Galaxy, and of course Albireo.  They headed back to their campsite at 9pm and Chuck S. and I wrapped it up.

Stacey T

Camp Tuckaho - 8/31/14

posted Sep 11, 2014, 8:27 PM by Jim Twellman

Stacy Thater ventured solo on this event, providing views for 52 stargazers at Camp Tuckaho.  The skies cooperated by being clear most of the day and evening.  He showed the Moon, Saturn, Mars, M13, M31, and M57.

estimate one hour

Camp Tuckaho 8-9-14

posted Aug 9, 2014, 11:41 PM by Jim Twellman

At the end of a cloudy and rainy day, we started seeing some blue sky after 6pm.  ASEM club members had gathered for our meeting in Weldon Springs. Carl Turek and myself departed at 7PM and drove to Tuckaho.  We met Steve Boerner there upon arrival.  Due to the large crowd, we were asked to set up on the far northern end, about 100 yards past the bonfire.  This is not the best site for us, but was deemed necessary for the large crowd of girls this night.

The sky looked almost decent upon arrival (8:00), but by the time we got set up it was completely overcast.  We sat and talked for about 45 minutes, by which time we had the Moon, just now firmly showing thru the gauzy haze.  The first set of kids showed up and we showed them the Moon.  Soon thereafter, Steve managed to pull in Saturn.  These two objects were all that we had for the majority of the evening.  Toward the end, we managed a few other views (double stars Albireo, Mizar, Polaris, and Globular cluster M13) for a select few viewers.  Besides fighting the cloud cover and fog, it was a humid night and eyepieces dewed up regularly.  It was a bit of a constant battle keeping the eyepieces from fogging up!  Occasional headlights in the camp showed that we were actually "in" the fog.

Our last effort ended at 9:58pm.  We served an estimated 120 people, most of which where scouts.  They were pretty well behaved, and made it all worthwhile.  We regularly reminded them that we do this at Broemmelsiek Park on Friday nights, and invited them to come on out.

Jim Twellman

2014 Lincoln County Twilight - Cub Scout Day Camp

posted Jun 19, 2014, 1:25 PM by Jim Twellman

High humidity, 90+ degree temps, and intermittent clouds hampered this event.  About half the kiddos had left camp by the time we started, no doubt due to the toll of the day's heat.  About 35 were present for the stargazing session.  We started shortly after 8:30, talking to the kiddos about how these telescopes work.  Carl Turek brought his 127mm Mak, and I brought the 8" SCT and the 16" dob, the crowd could see the differences in each type of telescope.

We started displaying Saturn in all 3 scopes while it was still twilight, around 8:40.  As it got progressively darker, and in-between clouds, we also showed them Mars, Mizar, Polaris, M3, and M13. The clouds hampered constellation-pointing, and more than half the crowd left before it got really dark enough to present this with a laser.  I was able to show several scouts Leo, Ursa Major, Polaris, and Corona Borealis. Our hosts were nice, and Dave was a great help manning my 8". I could tell that the day had taken its' toll, but given that it was so hot I thought the kiddos did well.  As with other such family events, there were quite a few little ones that had difficulties "seeing" anything in an eyepiece.

Saturn was great for about the first 30 minutes, then clouds rolled and we went for things in the sucker holes.  It was pretty tough for a while, but the clouds started to dissipate around 9:30.  By then there were only around 10 people or so.  They got the best views of the evening.  We kept going until shortly after 10pm, and were packed out by 10:30.

Wright City Bank - 5/2/14

posted May 3, 2014, 2:32 PM by Jim Twellman

Cloudy weather during the day hampered this event.  It was mostly clear an hour before sunset, and about an hour was enjoyed after sunset as well.  Unfortunately, the clouds came back.  We arrived shortly after 7pm and talked then set up.  We were talking to visitors and enjoying some views of the moon by 7:40.  First views of Jupiter were just before 8pm.  Sunset was 7:51pm and it wasn't fairly dark until almost 9pm.

Doug Kniffen brought his 8" SCT, as did Chuck Simms.  I brought the 16" dob for myself.  We set up on the parking lot at one end.  Traffic was light, due to the intermittent clouds and very cool temps.  I counted 16 total, not including the 3 scope operators.

In addition to the Moon and Jupiter, Chuck showed the setting Sun (filtered), and we also had views of Mars and double star Castor.  Light pollution and thin upper cirrus, in addition to the thick clouds gathering later, hampered all but the brightest DSO's.  As noted, the clouds started coming in about the time it began to get dark.

Clouds left us very little to look at shortly after 9pm, and by 9:30 we were packing up.  Despite the low turnout, it was good to get out for some fresh air and to share some views.

Jim Twellman.

American Heritage Girls - 4/12/2014

posted Apr 13, 2014, 12:16 AM by Jim Twellman

This event was our first ever at Towne Park ("Pink Plantation").  I set up at the end of the first parking area, between the two parking lots.  I brought my 8" Celestron SCT and my 16" dob.  Seeing conditions at arrival were fairly poor, and it unfortunately evolved into "lousy" by the end of the evening.

First viewers were around 8:10.  I was joined around that time by Stacey Thater and Doug Kniffen and they provided much-needed help.   Jupiter was displayed in the 8" SCT at 160x, while the Moon was viewed in the 16" dob at 61x.   Despite it being only 2 days before full moon, it was not painfully bright due to the thick layer of cirrus clouds.  Unusual not to need a filter to dim a nearly-full moon, the clouds were a fairly thick filter.  Early views of Jupiter showed two major bands and four Galilean moons.  Luna was bright but lacking in almost any detail whatsoever, due to the clouds.  Tycho showed up simply as a bright spot, all other features were indistinguishable.  Later views showed the Moon as a round blob and Jupiter as a disk, with no features whatsoever.  A very disappointing night weather-wise, but we took solace in showing up and not disappointing the kiddos.  Forecasts are not 100% correct at all times, but they were pretty spot-on tonight.  We invited all to better views at Broemmelsiek Park on any clear Friday night.  The last view given was around 9:15.  I packed up after and was out by 9:45pm.

The total number of people served was given to be 90.

Jim T.

Fairmount Elementary - Feb 27, 2014

posted Feb 27, 2014, 10:13 PM by Jim Twellman

This was the back-up date for this years' event.  The weather tonight was cold, in the upper 20's, but with very little wind.  David Lloyd, Marc Arnold and myself provided three scopes.  There were over 200 in attendance, and the people came to the scopes in small groups - which was good.  The event went from 6pm to 8pm, but it was not yet dark by 6pm.  Around 6:15 it was dark enough to show Jupiter, and the seeing for it was good and got better later on.  David also showed M42 and the Pleiades.  Some of us observed Io as it disappeared behind the limb of Jupiter.

Some constellations were pointed out when asked.  Many kiddos and adults pointed out Orion's belt and the 7 Sisters.  Some of the adults were interested in the telescopes as well.  Folks who needed help with their own scopes were directed to our website, and to the Beginner's meetings.  We repeatedly mentioned the Friday Nights at Broemmelsiek, and that Saturn will be shown there in the Spring months.  All in all, some very intelligent young people as well as their parents.  We were glad that the weather, as cold as it was, allowed this event to be successful.

Jim Twellman

Bald Eagle Watching - Feb 8, 2014

posted Feb 11, 2014, 1:18 PM by Jim Twellman

By request of the St Charles County Parks system, we once again participated with telescopes at their annual eagle watching event.  As the eagles do not generally come real close to people, the scopes are a big help in observing these fine creatures.   David L., Marc A. and Larry C. contributed their assistance here in the VERY cold weather.  Here are some excerpts from reports I received:

=======

Hello Friends!

Despite the snow and cold, there were about 125 guests who came out to participate in the Bald Eagle Winter Watch program this weekend.  Being able to see Lewis, the bald eagle, up close was such a treat!  Thank you Bobb and Patti Holden for your generous donation of the live eagle display for the program.  I also want to thank all who assisted in the program and those who made sure the park was ready for visitors.  In addition to the live viewing of Lewis, we were fortunate to see some eagles soaring across the sky during the program.  Members of the Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri also assisted and had a nice view of an eagle perched in a tree in their telescope during the program.  Bill also zoomed in on a few eagles with our new spotting scope!  Thanks again for all who helped with the event...good times!  Attached are a few photos of the program.  

Nancy Lee Gomer, Marketing Coordinator  -  St. Charles County Parks and Recreation Department

=======

Marc and Kathy only lasted one hour.  We left our cohorts when they weren't looking.  Dang it was cold out there.  The wind was killer.

David set up his 25x100s we set up our 20x80s and Larry set up his Maksutov.  There was a fair amount of folks come through during the hour we were there from 9:30 to 10:30.  Probably about a dozen or so.  There was even some birds to watch, across the frozen river where the ices stopped.

Wish we could have stayed longer to keep helping.  My face un-numbed itself a couple of hours ago!!

Marc

=======

I will agree with Marc.  It was very cold, and the event was well attended by everyone except the eagles..

The parks department had set up a very well planned event.  Nancy was running things, and there was a full complement of rangers and park workers.  They had an area plowed, marked and a site upwind set apart for us to set up the optical equipment.  I saw a large male in the trees directly across the river right after set-up and thought that was a good sign, but that was my closest sighting.  Maybe about 4-5 eagles seen, most of them downriver on the ice or in the trees. There was a steady stream of guests to the event over the course of 2 1/2 hours- I would guess around 50- but perhaps Nancy has a more accurate number.  They were very appreciative for the ASEM scopes and operators, and everyone seemed to enjoy looking through the binos (and Larry's scope) to see even just the winter scene.

There were some folks from the Wild Bird Sanctuary in attendance, and they brought a live bald eagle for show-and-tell.  He was a hit!  It was cool to see a specimen live and up close, and they were very engaging with the crowd, answering all kinds of bird questions (which is good, because my range of  bird-lore is mighty slim).

A good time was had by all.  It made me appreciate our Parks department all the more...

Dave L

Lewis, spreading his wings!

Mount Hope Elementary - 9/30/13

posted Oct 1, 2013, 12:35 PM by Jim Twellman

John Sgouros, Marv Stewart, and myself set up at Camp Derricotte shortly after sundown.  The first wave of campers came to us on-schedule at 7:30pm.  With our 3 scopes we showed them M22, M13, M27, M31, Albireo, and the Owl Cluster, over the course of the evening.  Four waves total came thru at about 30 minute intervals, for an estimated total of 110 campers, counselors, and teachers.  Sky conditions were really good at the start of the evening, but some streaks of upper atmosphere cirrus clouds (or vapor trails?) hung around motionless, criss-crossing the sky by the time we finished shortly after 9:35pm.  These did not harm telescope views, but they sure took the wow out of the Milky Way.

The kids were well-behaved.  The temperatures were moderate, and the mosquitoes were much less prolific than they had been at Cuivre's campground (Beach area) just 3 nights prior.  Many groups gave a coordinated "thank-you" as they moved on.  Our volunteers feed on the frequent exclamations ("ooh", "ahh!", "Wow!", etc.) uttered by the kids when they first spot the targeted object in the eyepiece.  Many kids took "a long drink" at the eyepiece, and we informed them and their teachers that we provide these views every clear Friday night at Broemmelsiek Park.

Boy Scout Troop 353 - Cuivre River State Park

posted Sep 27, 2013, 11:16 PM by Jim Twellman

We had very nice weather for this event.  David Lloyd and myself set up at the Beach Access area of the camp grounds area of this state park.   David brought the 25x100s and the 12" dob, and I brought the 8" SCT and my 16" dob.  We got started around 7:30, before it was truly dark.  The main group, all cub scouts and other young ones, came at the beginning.  Dave and I drafted a couple of adult volunteers and we went thru this group pretty fast.  By the time they thinned out, the older scouts came thru.  Many asked good questions.  At the end, some of the young ones came thru a second time.  We realize that these are the ones who have true interest.  Both of these last groups enjoyed a lot more personal time with us and the telescopes.

Among other things we showed them M22, M31, M27, M57, Albireo, M7, the Double Cluster, and the Veil Nebula.

The group thinned out by 9:30, and a State Park employee came with bright lights to clean out nearby trash cans and pretty much ended the event.  During the evening we enjoyed showing the Milky Way, at least one satellite, and pointed out several constellations.  The Big Dipper was behind the trees, making it impossible to show how the pointers direct us to the North Star.

This camp had many scouts not showing until Saturday, and likewise some who would not have been there Saturday and only attended camp on Friday.  I estimate that we had 85 folks (parents, scouts, siblings) total look thru our scopes tonight.  The kids were fairly well behaved and the parents were very thankful. We probably should have split the initial wave into two separate groups, but beside that things went very well.

Jim Twellman

Discovery Ridge Elementary : 9-20-13

posted Sep 21, 2013, 7:37 PM by Jim Twellman

A very cloudy day once again at Discovery Ridge Elementary.  We started out inside as ther was some risk of lightning to start the day.  After the first hour we moved outside.  Even if we could not see the Sun, outside is always more fun!

Eddie Agha and Steve Boerner brought Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) scopes, while Marv Stewart handled the solar charts, pictures, and diagrams.  I brought my 8" SCT and had the kiddos look thru it at the tops of telephone poles!  It was training for some who had no prior experience looking thru a telescope.

We started at 9AM and got a couple of breaks, ending at 2:30PM that afternoon.  Over the course of 3.5 hours with the kids we provided education and entertainment for over 220 kids and staff.  They learned how telescopes work, factoids about the nearest star (our Sun), and other tidbits of astronomical science.

Unfortunately, the cloudy skies continued into the night.  Many of our guests from DRE came out to Broemmelsiek Park that night anyway, and we invited them to come back to Broemmelsiek Park on the next clear Friday night, or any Friday night for that matter.  Hopefully we'll get better weather next year for Discovery Days.

(Wentzville School District photo)

2013 Family Camping

posted Sep 16, 2013, 9:25 PM by Jim Twellman

Amy White, David Lloyd, and myself arrived at Klondike Park Shelter #1 around sunset and found the air thick with smoke.  We set up as far from campsites and grills as we could, but it was still actually thick enough to taste.  It turned out that the Park Rangers were cooking some deep dish (?) peach cobbler in a camp fire!  Some was brought to us later on, and it was really delicious (but probably not offsetting the extra time I have yet to spend wiping eyepieces clean).  It probably wasn't all that bad, since none of us were spotting a Zambuto mirror tonight...   Still, I think we may need to move back to our "Old" shelter (#3) in the future here. 

In any case, we had our first 'customers' viewing the moon before it got dark, just before 8pm.  Amy brought her reflector, and David brought both the club's big binos as well as the club's 12" dob.  Over the next hour and a half a pretty steady line formed, and I believe we had around 75 look thru our scopes. I showed the gibbous waxing Moon, Albireo, M13, M31, and M15 thru my 16" scope, and showed constellations via laser and told related Perseus mythology to a couple sets of eager listeners.

The skies had a few pesky clouds, but not bad at all.  It was cool with a slight breeze, so no 'skeeters or other bugs to bother us.  We had lights at both far ends of the parking lot (not terribly bothersome with the bright moon out), and a great view of the red lights on the coal fired generating plant just across the river.  The view here is SO much short of the beautiful rock hills surrounding Shelter #3, but I have to admit that Shelter #1 gets more traffic from the campers, since it is the closest restroom facility to the cabins and camp grounds. 

The lines thinned out around 9:30 and we packed up and I was out by 10pm. 

2013 Perseid Meteor Shower

posted Sep 8, 2013, 10:38 AM by Jim Twellman

The moon was fairly kind for this event in 2013, but the weather could have been better.  The shower has a long "peak", and our plans were to maximize our local peak period, on Sunday Aug 12  thru the morning of the 13th.  Given plenty of consideration, we (ASEM and St Charles County Parks) did NOT publicize this event.  It was simply on our club calendar.   Here is kind of what happened:

SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11

Pre-Peak.  This was the evening of our club's monthly ASEM meeting, so we did not arrive at the park until sometime after dark.  Some "public" were already there upon arrival. 

I did not get a total people-count, will update this report if I can ascertain a number from someone else. It was probably in the 40-50-range, not unlike a Friday Night Open House.  I set up near the front with just my lounge chair and my big binos.  Grant set up nearby with Nolan's 8" scope and gave it a try out (it split the double-double in Lyra easily).  I hope that scope finds a good loving home soon.

Dew hit around 10pm, almost before it got completely dark.  Not a real heavy dew, but bad enough to cause repeated fogging of my binos, which I fought for a while.

I spent as much or more time observing and talking than I did looking out for meteors.  I also got stung on my finger tip by a wasp when plugging in a hair dryer that Amy provided to me to rid my binos of dew, and my concentration was completely down-hill from there.  I personally observed only 4 meteors and two of those were not Perseids.  I left around midnight or so, and I think there were at least 20 people still there when I left.  Many came in later on with blankets.  We had around 4 telescopes for them until around 11pm as I recall.

Despite everything, I had a good time overall, observing with my binos and chatting.  The night was mostly clear and not too warm at all.

SUNDAY EVENING, AUGUST 12

I came to the park during the daytime, and systematically sprayed all of the electrical outlets to rid them of the offending wasps.  My vengeance-sated, I returned home for a nap and more first-aid treatment.

This night was closest-to peak for our location on our side of the globe, and it was the night we had planned on and had posted on our club calendar.  The skies were turning cloudy, and the forecast for the 13th was even worse.  My stung finger had become badly swollen, and due to it being predominately cloudy that was enough to cease my plans for going out again.

Here is Amy's report:

---------

90 visitors came out to Broemmelsiek tonight to view meteors. Maybe 3 visitors actually saw a meteor streak.

I got to BPO at 8:30pm and there were already 25 people hanging around. The sky became unambiguously crap at 9:30 and continued to be lousy until I left. But people still kept coming. Then an equilibrium state existed for a few hours, when the number of bored people leaving equaled the number of optimistic people arriving.

I greeted people, welcomed them to the Park, and let them know what to expect (not much). Also strongly encouraged them to visit again on a clear Friday evening for the public telescope viewing.

I left around 1:40am today. There were still around 20 bodies at the Park. I will not be back on Monday evening.

Curious: no dew at all. Not a bit.

-----------

Thank goodness for Amy showing up and being an angel to all those who came to see little but the clouds.  Showing nebulae can be fun for us, but not so when it is the "Missouri Nebula" (!).  I almost cannot believe that we drew 90 people there without any type of publicizing, and on a mostly-cloudy night!

Monday August 13 was completely overcast and cloudy.  I would not be surprised if some people came to the park that night anyway, but none of our folks have admitted to it so far.  The public may have come out even with it being completely overcast, as we have seen many times before. 

I believe that a large part of the adult population are inclined to watch a meteor shower, to show their kids the "falling stars", and to relax under the stars in the summer night (before the school year starts) as they probably did once or twice when they were young.  Sometimes the moon and the weather just don't cooperate as well as we would like.

- Jim Twellman

Alton IL “Change for Change” event July 11, 2013

posted Aug 6, 2013, 7:45 AM by Jim Twellman

Eddie Agha, TNI Astronomy Educator shares his love of astronomy to our 5th and 6th graders at our “Change for Change” event July 11, 2013. He is shown here with his solar scope and he “enlightened” over 60 campers and their parents being able to view the sun safely. Later in the evening he took parents and campers on an astronomy hike to view the constellations.

Thank you Eddie for sharing your knowledge and love of astronomy!

Patricia Brown, Education Director

Certified Interpreter Guide

President, Environmental Education Association of IL

The  Nature Institute

www.thenatureinstitute.org

Cub Scouts at Old Monroe - June 13, 2013

posted Jun 14, 2013, 7:47 PM by Jim Twellman

We provided 3 scopes to this event.  John Sgouros brought his APO refractor, Mike Clemente brought his 11" SCT, and I dragged out the 16" dob.  We set up in the grass behind the horseshoe pits at the Old Monroe (Winfield area) K of C grounds. The scouts had daylight/twilight camp activities, and were well behaved for us. 

Due to an unfavorable weather forecast for Wednesday, we pushed the event off to its' back-up date of Thursday which as of Wednesday morning looked preferable.  It turned out that Wednesday night was the pick of the two. Our meteorology department was caught napping! The skies Thursday were tough at times, but for the most part we gave the scouts what they expected.  Early views of the moon at all scopes.  I let them focus the dob on the moon, so my line was a bit long and slow.  Saturn was responsible for many ooh's and ahh's at John's and Mike's scopes.  When possible, with respect to maintaining the scope and the clouds above, we would use laser pointers to show how to use the Big Dipper to find Polaris.  The Northern sky was often more free of clouds than the Southern sky.

We got started just before 9pm, with a small part of the crowd. The 30 per shift thing was a little loose, as those in waiting were close by and the anxious ones got extra looks in, which is sort of good.   We had some parents and siblings, for a total estimated crowd of 90. Several were very interested.  I noticed some had planetarium apps on their cell phones.  We mentioned Friday Night Open House's at Broemmelsiek several times.

More than half the crowd departed by the time it got fairly dark.  I turned to double stars, like Mizar and Cor Caroli.  I know that Mike showed M13 and M57 later on.   Toward the end the clouds were approaching 80%, and the sucker holes got small.  The campers were all needing to head home, as their parents were to be at work the next morning (just like us!).  We were pretty much done by 10:15 and I was home by 11pm.

Hopefully we will see some of these families in the future at Broemmelsiek Park.

Jim Twellman

Cub Scout pack #856 at Indian Camp Creek Park - 4/5/13

posted Apr 6, 2013, 8:03 AM by Jim Twellman

This event had been scheduled for Saturday May 6, but was hurriedly re-scheduled to Friday night due to weather forecasts.  I arrived at 7:15 and set up two telescopes (16" dob and 8" SCT) at Shelter #5.  The 45 scouts (and families) hiked over from the camp site at 8:10 in an obviously excited state.  After introductions, the group was split up in smaller units to look thru the scopes.  Two parents were 'recruited' to assist at each scope while I went back and forth. The kids settled into the routine nicely. 

Over the course of the next hour the following items were observed/shown: 

+Jupiter and it's 4 major moons (Io, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa), which held fairly well at 290x in the 8"

+ M42 (Messier 42) - the Great Orion Nebula, birthplace of young stars, at 60x in the 16"

+ M3 - globular star cluster in Canes Venatici, at 203x in the 16"

+ M41 - open star cluster in Canis Major, at 60x in the 16"

+ a Canes Venatici ("Cor Caroli") - colorful double star, at 80x in the 8"

+ M45 open cluster:  the Pleiades (aka the Seven Sisters, aka, "Subaru"), at 60x in the 16"

+ M41 open cluster, at 60x in the 16"

For the belt loops, we covered focusing a telescope, how to find the North Star (Polaris), and talking to an astronomer (amateur in my case, but it counts).  Constellations and asterisms that were pointed out included:   Orion, Big Dipper (part of Ursa Major), Leo, and Cassiopeia.

By 9:15 it had clouded up and I began to pack everything up and left by 9:40.  This was my first major outreach for 2013, and my scopes seemed 'heavier' than I remembered!  The good news is that everything worked fairly well, and no major surprises.

Jim Twellman

[Below:  a look toward the camp, from Shelter #5 (a short hike away)]

Bald Eagle Winter Watch - Hideaway Harbor Park

posted Feb 17, 2013, 4:31 PM by Jim Twellman

This event was light on astronomy (some solar views), but was done in cooperation with our partners at St Charles County Parks Department.  Someday we may see more of an alliance with local birder organizations.   Our thanks to the participants who shared their time serving the public in the cold. - - Jim T

======================

2/16/2013

Marc Arnold, David Lloyd, John Sgouros, and I were there this morning.   Cold & windy might best describe it.  I was less than a thrill to see ice forming on the shoreline of the river.   Kathy Arnold was there, but was too cold, left for a while, and then came back.  The wind was about 15 mph out of the NW.  We set up between the parking lot and river so we could focus on the island and Illinois.  I'm guessing that we saw about 10 birds and three spent a good deal of time perched so the optics were on them most of the time.  Surprise, most of the time the birds were on our side of the river and we rarely were focused on the Illinois side.

John pushed ASEM and FNOHs and passed out quite a few business cards.   After 2 1/2 hours last night, getting up early this morning, the cold, and wind, I pretty much sat.

Nancy & Betty from the Parks Department were both there as were about 100 people.   I get the impression from talking to Nancy that we'll be asked back next year and they'll include us in the flyer.

Mark & I both had our dobs & binos, David had binos, and John had two refractors.  Some where along the line I mentioned solar filter.  John had one in his car and put it on one of his scopes.  It was a good idea because we didn't always have an eagle present.   For future reference, SCTs would be better than Newts because our birds perched on their heads;-) and the lower eyepiece location meant that my scope was often blocked by cars in the lot..  We had Newts/Dobs because we both were too lazy to unpack & repack from the FNOH less than nine hours earlier.

It's tough to do something Friday night and then on Saturday morning!

- - Steve B

[The weather was warm, but the clouds rolled in on this event - JT.]

Great night! 

The kids were excited just to see the telescopes and your members did a nice job talking to them about the parts etc.  We took a couple if pics, but the teacher left her camera at home today.  I will send them to you as soon as I get them.

I also sent out a thank you email to parents with an invitation to your next public viewing.  Hopefully, you will see some of our kids!

Thank you so much for helping us out!  We learned a lot this first time, so next time we will be more prepared.

Dave Gentili

As the guys probably told you, we were completely clouded out after about 30 minutes.  We told a lot of people about Friday evenings at BPO and let them know about asemonline.org.

I had brought my 10" Dob.  So I spent the remaining time at the school showing people their beautiful faces in a 10" mirror with red light.  This seemed to please people.

David is a part-time staff with the St. Louis franchise of the Challenger Center.  It might be good for ASEM to get to know these folks.  Their focus is on school-age kids and classroom activities.

Amy White

=========================

A quick report...

I got to the school about 5:30 pm and Amy was already set up in the SE corner of the lot.  John and Stacey were there by 6.  People started to arrive about 5:45 pm in twilight and got views of Jupiter.   You could see clouds in the west and the kept getting closer and closer.  We were able to align with Capella and Aldebran.  John (I think) and I managed to get M45 in our scopes. Eventually M45 clouded out and I guessed correctly that M38 would be possible.  After about 5 minutes it was gone too.  We were pretty much done by 6:30 pm.

We kept on pushing ASEM, FNOHs, Beginner Meetings for the rest of the night.  Stacey  & John were gone by 7:15pm and Amy & I by 7:45.

Amy & I guessed that there were around 200 kids and parents. I'm going with that number for the count unless you want to get a number from the school contact.

Everyone was very complimentary & expressed thanks for us coming.

Steve Boerner

American Heritage Girls - Indian Camp Creek Park - 11/3/12

posted Nov 7, 2012, 9:32 PM by Jim Twellman

Last Saturday night ASEM was asked to host a star party at Indian Camp Creek

County Park for the American Heritage Girls and their families. Marv Stewart,

Chuck Simms, and myself arrived around 6:00pm and set up our telescopes near the

pavilion and playground across the field from the family campground. It is very

high ground and has pretty good horizons. The pavilion lights came on after

dark but didn't really affect our viewing because they are shaded well. The

lights on the restroom are shaded as well and on motion detectors and timers.

We were a little concerned because when we arrived there was nobody at the

campground. Marv waited there until the first car arrived and it was Pam Winter,

one of the organizers. She said they'd be arriving at 7:00 and just like

clockwork they did.

Families made the trek across the field and up the hill to where we were set up.

We estimate over 70 guests viewed many different objects including Mars,

Jupiter, M13, M15, M31, M32, M57, the Double Cluster, and NGC457. The Moon

hadn't come up by the time were packed up. Many had never looked through a

telescope before and some had been to the Astronomy Area at Broemmelsiek Park. There were lots of "wow"s heard. One boy commented that he looked through our

telescopes at 5th grade camp (at Cuivre River State Park).

Although the day started out completely overcast, the clouds cleared off nicely

just as dusk began. It was clear and cold, 39*F when we left shortly after 9:00pm.

John Sgouros

Well it was interesting. Indian Camp Creek would be a pretty good observing site. John's guess was 70 kids and adults looked through our scopes.  I had my scope on Alberio, and (later on) Jupiter when it got about 10 degrees off the horizon, it looked like a big Mars it was so red in the scud, but there were only a few groups I did this with. I also pointed out Cygnus, and let them look at the Milky Way and the Pleiades with my binoculars. They seemed to enjoy that as much as looking through the scope. I think Chuck had M13, John may have had M31---my guess. I doubt if there was anyone that didn't thank me and say they had enjoyed the experience. I'm sure it was the same for John and Chuck. A real feel-good moment.

Pam was a pleasure to work with.   Marv S

Pheasant Point Elementary - Camp Derricotte - 9/24/12

posted Sep 24, 2012, 10:35 PM by Jim Twellman

This camp event was originally scheduled for Wednesday evening (26th), but the forecast caused the school to request that we move it to Monday.  John agreed with the request early on Monday, with the hope that he could get some help on short notice!  Chuck Simms and I chipped in with two 8" SCTs, and John brought the 13" Coulter for DSO's.  We began with all three scopes on the moon for the first group around 7:20pm.  We figured that clouds might cause later groups to get no views, so we got started as quickly as possible although it was not dark yet.

We went thru four classes of fifth graders in pretty quick order, finishing at 8:50pm.  Classes were 20+, for a total of 100 including teen counselors and teachers.  In addition to the moon we provided views of M13 and Albireo.  The moon was 2 days past 1st quarter (waxing gibbous), and some kids seemed to know the lunar cycle pretty well.

The moon was definitely bright.  It was easy to view during dusk, but as it got dark it took its' toll.  M57 faded out quickly under magnification.  Kids who saw the moon would come over to see Albireo in my scope and still be too blinded to see it for awhile. 

We went thru this group fast.  I believe that this was the first time that we have worked with this elementary school.  We may need to stress our educational capabilities with them next year.  As a fairly new school they are probably not very familiar with us. 

It was a fun night, but we did hurry it with some concern for becoming clouded-out.  Clouds did dominate the south, as the Teapot was hardly to be seen all night. All in all we felt fortunate to be able to give the kids a good show and not be shut down due to clouds.

Jim T.

Discovery Ridge Elementary - Solar Scope event 9/21/12

posted Sep 21, 2012, 10:43 PM by Jim Twellman

We dodged a few clouds this morning, but managed to give views to every class

that came out, some more than others. Eddie Agha provided views from the Lunt

Ha scope. Amy White used the projection method with her dob, and I had a filter

on my 8" SCT.

The first group that came out at 9am was TWO classes, which was hurried. All

the rest (8 half-hour sessions total) were just one class.  Those single classes got some "seconds" if the skies were mostly clear.  Class sizes probably

averaged 25+, so for nine classes (and including teachers) we had 235 by my

estimate.

Our program began at 9:00am and ended at 1:30pm.  The school provided lunch food and water for us during the half-hour break at noon. We got a lot of 'thank-you's' to go along with the typical "wow's" and "cool!"'s. 

Jim

 T.

Parks Leadership Training - Klondike Park 9-19-2012

posted Sep 20, 2012, 6:17 AM by Jim Twellman

This event was handled by Dave Lloyd, Marv Stewart, and myself.  Dave Lloyd brought the club's 14" StarMaster dob,  Marv had his 8" dob, and I wielded my 8" SCT.  The group of 30 were still in meetings (with dinner) when we arrived and set up.  They came out around 8:30pm and hung out and talked astronomy and looked thru the 3 scopes until 10pm.  We showed them the Moon, Albireo, M57 (Ring nebula), M8 (Lagoon nebula), M13 (Glob) M22 (Glob), M27 (Dumbbell neb), M31 (Andromeda galaxy), and the Veil supernova remnant, among others.

We had set up on the Northeast end of the conference center, staff parking lot.  They managed to shut off the parking lot lights for us, which helped tons. 

This was a small group, but it was for our friends at St Charles County Parks, and we were very glad to provide the evenings' entertainment.  We were offered (and accepted!) some of the food and drink that was available.  The event was friendly, educated, and (of course) appreciated.

Jim T

Dave with the StarMaster

Ft Zumwalt School District - Cuivre River 5th grade camps

posted Sep 19, 2012, 1:49 PM by Jim Twellman

In a type of a "first" for our Outreach, we took on THREE large "away" events in just one evening.  Rain had cancelled the previous nights' plans at two of these camps, and we had volunteers enough to give a decent show to all three. 

Camp#1: LEWIS & CLARK ELEMENTARY @ Camp Cuivre  

"Lynn and I had about 100 kids and adults viewing with us. We started out with a deer feeding in the field while we set up. Lynn tracked M13 with the Coulter all evening while I showed Albireo, Alcor & Mizar and M31 in the 110mm refractor. A couple was showing reptiles inside while groups came out to view. It all worked well. We packed up and headed for home a little before 10:00 pm."

John Sgorous

Camp #2:  FORREST PARK ELEMENTARY @ Camp Sherwood

I crossed paths with a very young doe (a spotless fawn) on the way to the campground, near Camp Cuivre.  The sun had started to set, which made the sky bright on the hilltops while being very dark in the valleys and in the shaded glades.

Tom Richards and I took on the largest camp, 6 classes of 5th graders for 140 total.  Tom had his 8" f/6 reflector and I had both my 8" SCT and the 16" f/4.5 dob.  With three pieces of equipment we could take on 30 kids at a time, platoon-fashion.  I "borrowed" a teacher (Diana) to stand at the 8" SCT and tell the kids about Mars and the Ring Nebula.   We got started at 7:45 with views of the moon, Mars, and Albireo early on.  Later views included M8, M13, M22, M31, M57 and the Double Cluster.  The night was nearly perfect, somewhat cool, no bugs or mosquitoes, and very clear skies.  We pointed out the Milky Way to the kids, almost half of which had never seen it before. 

The Lagoon Nebula and the Andromeda galaxy could be seen easily with the naked eye.  Constellations were also occasionally pointed out, as was a very bright (-6 mag) Iridium Flare around 8:47pm.  We finished up with the kids at 9:40 and gave quick looks of several objects to two late teachers, finishing at 9:45pm.  Tom and I then enjoyed a quick peek at the Veil Nebula, which was nearly straight up.  With the 2" OIII in place, it may have been the best I've ever seen it.  Not only was the 'broom' end of the witches' broom filled out like lace, it was also showing many small arcs within the lace very nicely.  It was quite breathtaking.

Local light issues are a minimum at this camp, but this year we had more issues with flashlights unfortunately.  As it was a dark and moonless night, teachers deemed them necessary but unfortunately had a hard time keeping them pointed at the ground.  Unless you are dark-adapted and on the receiving end, it is difficult to impress people on how this actually causes pain to others.  Overall the kiddos and teachers were well-behaved and appreciative of the views we provided.  We found the gates to the camp closed upon leaving around 10:20, but they were not locked, and we let ourselves out and put the gates back as we found them.

Jim Twellman

Camp #2 - continued

I will give a brief report for Jim T, since he is at Klondike tonight, and I was with him at Camp Sherwood, last night.

All I can say is, WOW, did the skies open up for a great star show out in the country!  The kids had a blast and so did we.  Jim had his 16 dob and C8, and I had my trusty 8 inch newt.  The camp coordinating counselor staffed Jim's C8.  Objects shown were the same, including the crescent Moon at the beginning and the Lagoon Nebula in Jim's Dob with a OIII filter.  The seeing was just terrific we thought.   At the end, Jim and I did a short bit of private observation, including the Veil Neb with Jim's OIII filter, to which both Jim and I felt that the view was one of the best visually we had ever seen of the Veil.  The filaments and where they split was easily seen. 

After each group, counselors also expressed interest in the club, public viewing at Broemmelsiek, and several expressed interest in building or acquiring a scope.

Was truly another great experience for both us and the kids, who were fortunate to have such great skies while camping up there.  I am sure glad I pushed to get there after work and dinner (it was just in time by the way: immediately after setting up and I was told "look out, here they come").

Hope I can do it again soon,

Tom R

Camp #3 - DARDENNE PRAIRIE ELEMENTARY - Camp Derricotte

[Marv Stewart and Bill Jones managed two scopes for this camp.   -- JT]

"Bill and I had a good evening with the fifth graders. About eight o"clock they came out in two groups of about thirty each. Twenty five kids and five counselors and teachers per group. They stayed at either Bill's telescope or mine. I showed them M15 and Mizar, Bill had M 13 and the Lagoon in his. I pointed out the Constellations of Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Pegasus.

We found the groups very respectful and interested. Almost all the kids took their time looking and all expressed amazement. I was concerned without the Moon or planets we would be over their head and lose them, but this was not the case. Several came back for "seconds'.

All in all it was very enjoyable.

One note of caution, the grassy area below the volleyball court is a mess. They have put in a city water line, and where they dug is muddy and there is a lot of fist sized rock and brick lying around to stumble over in the dark. I would advise setting up on the volley ball court for now."

Marv

Klondike Park - Family Camping - Sept 8, 2012

posted Sep 9, 2012, 8:28 AM by Jim Twellman

The weather was nearly perfect, just one day after severe weather had cancelled this event on Friday.   The temperatures were very pleasant at sundown, and several kids hungrily buzzed around us as we set up our scopes.

Our shared views started around 8pm with Albireo.  No planets were available except Uranus and Neptune, as the Western horizon was blocked by trees.  Unfortunately, those planets were low in the St Louis skyglow, and were not viewed.  Two parking lot lights in the distance on opposite ends also created some challenges for us.  It was easily managed, but when everyone was gone at 10:30 and the timers shut them off, it was a relief felt unanimously - although by then we were mostly packing.  I estimate that we had 55 visitors overall.  They mostly came in groups of 10-15 and cycled thru.  We had very few that came thru twice, but had several mention that they had friends who were very into astronomy.  Many campers were from St Louis County.

Telescope operators were John Sgorous, Amy White, and myself.  Grant Martin provided laser-assisted naked-eye astronomy and wowed many by pointing out satellites and the great Andromeda galaxy.  Objects shown included M22, M13, M57, M31, M27, M52, M8, and the Veil Nebula.  Most campers had cycled thru by 9:00pm, but after a brief hiatus for some camp "awards" stragglers came thru in small groups of 2-5.  All were done at 10:15 and we packed out.  I hung around for a quick view of the Helix before packing and was home by 11:30.  My favorite views for the night were M8 with a 2" OIII at 60x and M13 at 203x.

Jim Twellman

Camp Tuckaho - 8-24-12

posted Aug 25, 2012, 10:52 PM by Jim Twellman

The weather for this event was clearing from cloudy, but allowed the moon somewhat easily early on, while the sky continued to clear.  Sunset was 7:45pm.

Stacey, Marv, Dave, and I entertained about 150 Girl Scouts and leaders with the Moon, Saturn, M13, M22, M27, M57, Alcor & Mizar, Arcturus, and a few others

between the clouds. The temperature was perfect and one group was treated to a fly-by of the ISS. We finished up and left by 10:45.

John Sgouros

Chesterfield Public Library 8-24-12

posted Aug 25, 2012, 10:43 PM by Jim Twellman

 We had 16 teenagers and 5 parents at this event, aimed at teenagers.  The indoor presentation (teenagers only) started at 7pm and was just under 1 hr, using Amy White's "Myth-busters" presentation.  They then they had a snack break while I moved the 8" SCT outside for the moon for the last 30 mins.  Just before the parent pick-up at 8:30, Saturn popped out of the clouds and was shown at 80x to the group of teens and 5 parents.

Most of these kiddos were very interested in astronomy.  A majority had seen the Milky Way and had looked thru a telescope at the moon or a planet.  One parent was very interested and I'm sure we may see more of him and his child at future events.  All of the kids went home with tri-fold brochures for both ASEM and SLAS.   Broemmelsiek Park was highlighted, and several checked with me on directions to it.

Perseid Meteor Shower - 8/11-12/2012

posted Aug 12, 2012, 12:17 PM by Jim Twellman

The attraction of this meteor shower to the public was amazing.  Despite partly cloudy skies (up to 90% cloudy at times, down to as little as 20% cloudy at others) the cars coming in had exceeded Broemmelsiek Park's paved parking capacity by 9:15.  Amy White, Steve Boerner, and myself did overflow parking duty for about 35 minutes until park rangers arrived. We were very appreciative of their help. When I left around 12:30 I estimated that there were still about 70 cars there.  Probably double that number of vehicles had come and gone prior to my departure.  Estimates of attendees were 300+, and I would say it was closer to 350.  It very well may have exceeded 400.  Many that arrived had around 4 people per car, which was good.

We had posted on our website that we would begin hosting this event at 10pm, partly due to our monthly meeting on that evening at Weldon Springs, as well as favoring higher meteor counts at later times.  I left our meeting early and was probably the 12th car on the lot when I parked around 9pm. Amy had put out the 'lighted' sign at the park entrance already, and did a lot of "welcome wagon" duties throughout the evening (Thanks Amy!).  Many (20 or so?) of our members came over after our meeting and shared info with the public.   Most guests arrived with lounge chairs, folding chairs, and blankets.  Jealousy was expressed to the few that had 'zero-gravity' lounge chairs and inflatable mattresses!

Only a few scopes were active, and views were shared early on while folks were settling in and it was getting darker.  Once the first bright meteor was seen though ("ooh", "ahh") folks curtailed the chit-chat and settled down on their lounge chairs and blankets.  Several "circles" of observers were seen, as this configuration allowed each in the group to be duly informed of the ones they missed, behind our heads.  Surprisingly, the heat wave that we had suffered with in the past 6 weeks subsided, and no fans were needed.  Temps were in the 70's early on, and dropped into the 60's as time progressed.  One benefit of the recent heat wave and drought was that bugs were hardly noticed at all.

It did not take long to fill the grass and concrete pads in the scope area, and then the grassy field to the west (near the restrooms) became fully peppered with blankets.  Like a fireworks show, whenever a bright meteor was seen you could hear the crowd noise, occasionally topped off with applause.  Despite the clouds, I personally observed 18 meteors over my roughly 2 hours of observing (not quite 10 per hour) pre-peak, and I "heard" the observations of others on the ones that I missed at over twice that.  This park can be fairly dark, but when there are a few clouds the light pollution tends to "bounce" and reduce transparency greatly.  As a result, few meteors dimmer than mag 4 were observed.  Thankfully, this shower provides a good number of bright meteors.  Several that I observed left smoky trails, one "short" Perseid left a trail for around 8-10 seconds.  I observed no bolides or fireballs personally.  Approximately 4 of the meteors that I observed were not from the Perseid radiant.  Most of these were determined to be from the Kappa Cygnid meteor shower, which over-laps with the Perseids.

My observations ended at 12:30 and I packed out.  Tom Richards reported that quite a few hung out as late as 4am, and were rewarded with clearing skies in the wee hours.  The clearing was partly due to having reached the dew point, and I'm sure quite a few blankets had become slightly soggy.   It was worth it all, as the Perseid shower was rewarding, even thru the plentiful cirrus clouds.

Jim Twellman

Cub Scouts - Bowling Green - June 23, 2012

posted Jun 24, 2012, 1:59 AM by Jim Twellman

Despite yet another 'iffy' weather night, this event turned out really nice.  The skies were clearing at sundown, but as darkness approached another large patch of clouds appeared and dimmed our hopes for a while.  However, once they passed things really looked pretty good!  My brother Larry assisted me at this event, and it was much appreciated. I packed two scopes (8" Celestron SCT and the 16" dob) and was also busy pointing out constellations.

Our mission this evening centered on about 30 boy scouts and families camping here, with a couple of other nearby campers also.  I was set up and ready before 9pm, and the first wave of scouts arrived around 9:15.   First targets shown were the crescent moon at 60x and Mars at 160x.  When the skies cleared a bit more we enjoyed viewing Saturn at 160x.   Saturn looked pretty good, not great (and therefore not worthy of more magnification), and Mars was pretty unstable but showed a discernible disk at 160x.   Still, Saturn was a hit, as always.  It is a "ring thing".

The skies continued to clear, and more objects were shared, including the beautiful colored double star Albireo, the Ring Nebula (M57), the Great Hercules Globular Cluster (M13), the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), and for a select few at the end the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and the Lagoon Nebula (M8),the latter viewed with an O-III filter. A few were sharp enough observers to notice the dark lane in M8 on their own. Always a twist to visually "see something that isn't there".  In between, the crowd enjoyed a nice Iridium Flare as well as a very bright pass of the International Space Station.  Part of the Iridium Flare fun was watching it cross paths with another satellite (CZ-4 RB,  a Chinese Rocket body). The ISS was also very bright, and winked-out after 2 minutes as it moved into earth's shadow.  People began noticing satellites everywhere.  It all starts by simply looking up!  At the very end, the skies were very transparent and I was tempted to stay for a while on my own, but didn't.  I finished up just after 11pm and was packed shortly after 11:30.

This was an enthusiastic, if small, group and I know that the need for astronomy outreach exceeds the reach of St Charles and Lincoln counties.  The group was invited to our Friday Night Open Houses, and hopefully some will come to visit us a time or two in the future.  I enjoyed this night a lot.  A poll of favorites tonight was fairly tied between the M13 Globular Cluster and the ISS. 

Jim Twellman

Transit of Venus - Tuesday June 5, 2012

posted Jun 5, 2012, 10:59 PM by Jim Twellman

The last transit of Venus occurred in June of 2004, pre-ASEM.  As I recall, Jim Roe traveled to Ohio to view it, and I stayed here to barely catch around 15 minutes worth, shortly after sunrise.  There wasn't a good place to observe, much less to share the views with others.  It was a morning event, and the temperature was over 90 degrees right at sunrise. I used my old 4.25" reflector and did solar projection, capturing a few images with my 1.2 megabyte digital camera.

What a contrast this event was!  The park rangers counted over 800 visitors.  I think that we had 10 scopes and one mounted set of binos, plus at least one walk-around set.  Equipment operators included:  John Sgouros, Marv Stewart, Steve Boerner, Mike Scalion, Amy White, Chuck Simms, David Lloyd,  Stacey Thater, Larry Walton, Tom Richards and Richard Kamp.  Many other members were seen there as well, and may have brought equipment or helped out, including Bill and Florrie Sheehy,  Carla Kamp, John Furlong, David and Donna Reed, Dan Crowson, Rodney Manzanga, Larry Williams, Mike Clemente and others ? Equipment included refractors, SCTs, binos and dobs all with white light filters or projection, as well as PSTs and Lunt Ha scopes.  It was busy and hectic and I did a terrible job of getting around to say hello.  At least two scopes were manned by non-members.  One of which was from Chicago and the other was from Atlanta.  

Broemmelsiek drew them from near and far.

I had arrived around 3:20, and was still setting up around an hour later while the visitors started to swell.  I showed them views of the Sun, with sunspots, until the moment of first contact.  I warned them that our folks might be a little 'selfish' with our scopes around the time of first contact, and I was glad to hear them reply that we should be!

Roughly 30 minutes later, first contact was shouted out, and there were lines of viewers from then until nearly sunset, almost non-stop. I took a quick head count at first contact, and there were over 100 on the site at that time.

There were a lot of first-time visitors to the park, and nearly all of them were surprised to hear that we did this for free almost every Friday night.  It is likely that our Friday Night Open Houses will be busier than usual for the next several weeks.  Handouts and flyers, as well as Transit Observing Certificates, were moving like hotcakes. The 35 remaining Eclipse Sunglasses were gone in a flash.  Despite what I'd read, I could distinctly see the dot of Venus at 1x (corrected vision).

The weather was very kind, temps in the mid-80's and very few clouds.  Some of us had electric fans, but it wasn't all too bad to begin with.  The park rangers had seen the same media frenzy that we had, and had mowed extra parking spaces as well as a nice clear walking path from the parking area just to our east.  Five park rangers helped with traffic and parking, and were greatly appreciated.  It would have been a real mess without them.

Just two days before, the weather forecast was half-way crummy and there was not much going on with the media.  It was amazing to me how fast things changed, and I'm glad that we (and the Parks department) were prepared.

Oh, and Venus was GREAT too!  The round black dot was noticeably superior to the crop of sunspots, of which there were several good sets.  The trees to our west put an end to our fun a little earlier than sunset, around 8:10pm instead of 8:24pm.  A few visitors came driving thru to talk to us as we were packing up.  I encouraged them to come back on Friday night.

A few folks brought their own equipment.  Some may show up at a FNOH, but I tried to emphasize that they try out our Beginner's meeting first, since there would be more time to help out with their scopes. 

It is very likely that this was the largest single event for ASEM in our history.  We managed to stay on top of things without over-hyping this event too early - a thing which can somewhat 'back-fire' when the clouds roll in.  There is no doubt that the clear weather helped to spring-board this event.

There won't be another Venus transit until 2117, but there will be a Mercury transit on May 9, 2016, and a full solar eclipse here on August 21, 2017.  We probably should start planning for them soon!

Jim Twellman

Cub Scout Pack 674

posted May 23, 2012, 10:24 PM by Jim Twellman

Last evening my wife Lynn and I set up my TV-85 refractor with white light solar

filter on the Sun and 13.1" Coulter Dobsonian on Venus for Cub Scout Pack 674 at

Church of the Shepherd in St. Charles. About 20 Scouts and 10 family members

enjoyed the views. They were at Broemmelsiek Park for FNOH last month but were

clouded out. A few of the parents after actually getting to look through a

telescope said they'd come back out to the park.

They came out in two groups and was about an hour total. 

John Sgouros 

Partial Solar Eclipse - Klondike 5/20/2012

posted May 20, 2012, 10:57 PM by Jim Twellman

Stragglers were still coming up the hill around 7:30 when the Park Rangers first noticed the lightning in the west.  Thunder had rumbled in the distance a number of times by then.  The clouds were a deep blue in the West, and they were moving SW to NE.   Our folks with equipment started breaking down and heading to the trail shortly thereafter.  Chuck Simms, Amy White, and Marc Arnold all brought scopes.  I handed out 23 pair of Eclipse Glasses, so I'll use that as a count.  The Sun had previously been shining, but disappeared behind the clouds shortly after we got to the top, around 6:40pm.

I dragged my feet going down, but it just wasn't going to happen, and I was the last down at 7:55pm.

After the Rangers urged us down several times from the lookout due to lightning, I was talking to folks in the parking lot, when it suddenly looked a little pink in the west. I snuck back up the hill with some newly-arrived hikers right at 8:00 and saw the Sun! I got the camera out, but the bottom half of the Sun was in the trees. That was 8:01. Then the Sun was gone.

So close!

We did not get wet at Klondike. Just up the road in Defiance it had poured, and the rain continued for me the rest of the way north.

A note on this site for the future.  The lookout gives a "good" western view, but the elevation west of here is higher than it is at the MO river.  A piece of flat land 10+ miles west of here with an unobstructed western horizon would have been better.

Jim T.

Indian Camp Creek Park - Cub Scouts - 5/5/12

posted May 5, 2012, 11:54 PM by Jim Twellman

This event had been postponed from the previous evening due to heavy clouds and threat of rain. Tonight's weather was only slightly better.  Thin cirrus clouds dominated the evening, and the full moon was very bright.  

I had arrived around 7:35 and found Mike Clemente had already set up his newly acquired 102mm refractor.  It is a beauty.  He wanted to run it thru its' paces and knock out the kinks. 

Despite the heavy cirrus cloud cover, we were able to show Venus, the moon, Saturn, and Mars.  The seeing was decent, much better than the transparency.  Still, images were fuzzy at higher powers.  I limited views at 226x, which was great on Saturn and Venus.  Mars did not offer much detail, and what few features I could make out were fleeting with the passing cirrus clouds.

Sunset was at 8:00pm sharp.  The full moon did not clear the trees until around 8:15.  We started showing early-birds around 8:30 and the crowd started coming in steadily afterwards. Saturn was the biggest hit, as usual, but quite a few were very interested in the "Super Moon" (perigee combined with full moon).   Because of the full moon and the plentiful cirrus clouds and the resulting light bounce, the skies were limited to 2nd magnitude.

In addition to the moon and three planets, I showed a few people the globular cluster M3 and the double star Cor Caroli.  Cor Caroli was barely visible to the naked eye, and M3 was not even partially resolved in my 8" SCT.   The kids and parents asked good questions.  Some of the parents were pretty knowledgeable and were very interested, and we had some great discussions.  

The count of adults plus scouts (all campers) tonight was 30.  The camp had 'shrunk' on their second night, something we've seen before.  There were some remarks about how good the skies were at this event last year (Joe Pastor and Chuck Simms supported that one), but then I was told that their views of Saturn this year was better!  I was puzzled about that (with the crummy skies that we had tonight) until I remembered that Saturn's rings were nearly edge-on back then.

The kids got tired and things wound down around 10pm.  We answered a few more questions and then started packing out around 10:15 and left right at 10:30. 

The camp site at this park is probably the best spot for telescopes in the entire park.  There is slight limited visibility due to trees (mostly North, but some limits west), but not too bad.  The "telescope field" is at the far end of the camp (East), with a somewhat grassy area near the parking lot and the bathrooms.   It is a pretty fair location for "Camp" outreach.

Jim Twellman

"Bad moon rising"!!

DuBray Middle School - April 20, 2012

posted Apr 22, 2012, 9:38 PM by Jim Twellman

This was the second year that we were invited to present at this school's Earth Day event.

Unfortunately, clouds and threats of thundershowers forced us inside for this daytime event.  Stacey Thater, Marv Stewart, and myself quickly put together an indoor presentation.  Marv brought the club's Lunt Ha solar scope for show-n-tell to small groups while Stacey and I presented to the large group. Stacey's presentation was from his I-Pad and he showed information from the new STEREO solar satellite observatories, as well as planetary comparisons of Mars (too cold), Venus (too hot), and earth (just right).  Stacey gave insights on global warming and the concerns from scientists.  I presented some Powerpoint slides from IDA on Light Pollution, photo views of the sun thru white-light and Ha filters, and upcoming events with ASEM (partial solar eclipse on May 20 and Transit of Venus on June 5).

Our presentations were repeated with 4 sets of students, at about 50+ each (estimated total 220), from 1pm to 3:15pm.

Jim Twellman

Boy Scout Awards Banquet - Pack 972

posted Apr 1, 2012, 7:11 PM by Jim Twellman

Larry Campbell and I had a great time today working with the cub scouts.  We got there earlier and setup two scopes, a 5" Dob that my daughter and I made several years ago, and a 3 1/2 " refractor.  We tag-teamed a myth busters theme on astronomy and took questions at the end.  We talked about viewing without a scope, the types of scopes, not spending a lot on equipment, and not needing high power to see objects.  We had a number of great questions, and lot of the folks had already been to Broemmelsiek to see us before.  There were about 90 people, scouts and adults, and everyone had a great time.

Chuck

Wright City Elementary East - 11/9/2011

posted Nov 9, 2011, 11:09 PM by Jim Twellman

This event was set up by Bill Gatewood of Wright City.  It was coordinated thru the Wright City School District, and supported also by the local Masons.  The evening was a little cold, around 45 degrees at sunset.  Not bad for us, but often a deterrent for elementary kids or their parents.  It was definitely "late" by historical dates of Astro Outreach "road shows".

Bill had gotten local media attention, and it was well promoted.  Despite the temps, the skies were beautiful and we had at least 60 attendees.  Over 50 of them came early to listen to the introductory presentation given in the school cafeteria, that Bill had prepared.  That presentation started at 6:30 and marked the official beginning.  Some of us had scopes set up earlier, since sunset now is 5pm.  A short handful came by for an early treat.  The crowd here was mostly elementary school parents and their children.

In addition to Bill Gatewood's scopes and mine, scopes were manned by Chuck Simms and Jerry Kelley.  We entertained views thru scopes of Jupiter, the nearly full Moon, M15 globular, M57 Ring Nebula, and other items.

Our efforts were well appreciated, and Bill is considering a Spring effort here as well. I noticed several very interested and well-informed kids whose parents knew of their child's passion for this.  That alone made it worth my time.  My only regret was that very bright nearly full moon that we had shining over us tonight!  Good for a public event, just hard and less rewarding to look at dimmer deep-space objects  I invited all of them to our Friday Night Open House events, so maybe we'll see some of them in the near future at Broemmelsiek Park.

Jim Twellman

Fort Zumwalt North - Astronomy Class presentation

posted Oct 29, 2011, 12:15 AM by Jim Twellman

Per request for telescopes for a show-n-tell I brought two scopes and performed a solo presentation at Francis Howell North high school.  I set up on the grass median next to visitor's parking, which was a short walk outside from the classroom.  Three classes composing 70 students had opportunities to look at my two scopes, and to look thru them as well.  The classes were currently studying how telescopes work, so it was a good opportunity to look at real scopes from inside and out.

I was still nursing a bad back, so I dragged out my 4.25" Edmund Newtonian reflector.  I had hoped to also do solar projection with it, but the setup that I chose proved to be too much effort while handling two scopes.  So, I let it be the Show-n-tell scope and pointed it at a nearby cell tower, complete with birds!  It helped to have a scope focused on a terrestrial point, to let the observer learn how to position their eye to the light cone of an eyepiece's focus. It also sparked comments on the views being upside-down.  That led back to the illustrations of the focal diagram, which nicely shows this upside-down effect.

I set up my 8" SCT with a white-light solar filter and left it to follow the sun while the students looked at the sun spots on the white disk.  A very large sunspot was dead-center, and several smaller spots were scattered across Sol's disk.  I had a large poster showing the sun in various filters and events (Ha, white light with Mercury transit, solar projection showing Mercury transit, and yesterday's Spaceweather.com solar picture).  I did experience some problems with this scope's drive, and believe that I have a bad wiring connection to work on soon.  My poster included a picture of the sun from the prior day showing the position of the sunspots to compare to their observations today.

We started out at 11:35 and finished by 2:35.  The teacher (Lauren) was very helpful and the high school students were well behaved.  The school had a big rivalry game coming up, and the Cardinals in the World Series game 7 also were topics of great interest and excitement.

The students were informed of our presence EVERY Friday night at Broemmelsiek Park and business cards with our club's name, web site, and Yahoo! Group name  were given to those who were interested.  I hope and expect a couple handfuls of these students to visit us at Broemmelsiek Park in the very near future.  Each class had some good questions and they were a lot of fun to share with.

Jim Twellman

One sunspot was so large, you could see it at 1x with a simple filter.

Boy Scout Fall Encampment 10/22/2011

posted Oct 23, 2011, 9:50 AM by Jim Twellman

It was a mostly cloudy sky as I left home and headed to Troy, and I'm wondering if we'll see anything tonight.  I arrived at the Troy fairgrounds at 6:40pm and see that Mike Clemente is already setup and waiting for the clouds to clear in front of Polaris, so he can do his alignment.  Few stars are visible at this point, but we can see the summer triangle.  While I’m setting up, the first couple of visitors arrive, and father and son sneaking over early to beat the crowd.  I did a quick one star alignment on Altair and then moved to Jupiter, who was still low on the horizon and covered with high clouds.  It wasn't the best view, but you could faintly see two bands and one moon, but baggers can't be choosey. 

Jerry Kelley got there a little before 7pm and started setting up.  At the same time the first wave of scouts came in and we were open for business.  Jupiter stayed in the scope for the first hour and a half, but always had clouds over it.  Most of the time you could see it with your eyes through the clouds, but even when you couldn't, it was always visible in the scope.  Then about 8:30pm I lost it completely.  Looking up I could see a clearing was on it way so I continued to talk to the group showing pictures of Jupiter and it's moon with my iPad.  Just as I was explaining to a couple of scouts that had stuck around that Jupiter would pop out any time, it happened, the King arrived.  It was beautiful, the bands were clear, and Callisto, Europa and Io formed a triangle above it, with Ganymede far below it.  I quickly centered and focused it and opened it up to the crowd.  What came next was over an hour of Ooh's and Ahh's, Awesome's, and other adjectives that meant they liked what they saw.

By 10pm the crowd had thinned to a few diehards and Mike and I did a last call to look through the scopes.  We started breaking down about 10:15 and we looked up to see a large cloud bank rolling it.  Perfect timing.

Mike had move around a lot more than I did.  Objects I know he looked at are Albireo, Vega, M13 and M57 and M45.  Jerry had a taken on a young Padawan and let him guide the scope.  This young man had found Jupiter, Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiadies, and a few more I don't remember.  Jerry was still there when Mike and I left around 10:30.

It turned out to be a great night and we guessed there were 100 to 150 people.  I know we had a lot of repeats once the clouds cleared. 

I got home in time to see Albert hit a homer and the Cards win 16-7.  Yes, a good night indeed!

Chuck

Well, Tonight WASN'T a total "Bust" after all.  Early, we were fighting clouds that were almost opaque.  In fact we were having a lot of trouble seeing Jupiter, through them.  So I issued a challenge to some scouts that were milling around to see who the first one was that could see it, because I couldn't.  A 14 yr old Scout was the first one and as a "Reward" got to be the Telescope Operator of my 12 inch Dob, for the whole evening.  So, during the evening, as different parts of the sky would clear temporarily, we did a little hopping around looking at various objects, including M-57, M-56, M-31 & 32, Albireo, M45,, the Double Cluster, The OWL Cluster,, Epsilon Lyrae, M15, M2, the Pleaides & of course Jupiter several times at both Low & High magnifications, as the sky permitted.  My young Scout found most of these objects with very little help from me, but would always ask "Is This It"?  Occasionally he was aimed wrong, but for the most part he was dead-on.  He'd never looked through a telescope before, but he had a lot of fun tonight. I also had my 15x70 Biniculars with me & passed them around among the Adults that were there, finding bright objects, naked-eye, then giving them the Binocs & letting them find things on their own.  There were several gasps & WOWs from the adults when they saw the Double-Cluster & the Pleaides & M31

- Jerry Kelley

Cuivre River Boy Scout camp, 10/15/2011

posted Oct 16, 2011, 5:53 PM by Jim Twellman

Another successful astronomy viewing at the Cuivre River State Park beach parking lot for the campers there last night. I guesstimate we had over 100 Cub

Scouts, their parents and siblings, and campers looking through four telescopes

that Mike Clemente, Jim and Yvonne Roe, Jim Twellman, and myself had set up. It

was very dark there and because the Moon hadn't risen yet, the Milky Way was

very easily seen. We were also treated to the International Space Station (ISS),

two Iridium flares, and a Russian satellite flyover. One of the Iridium Flares

was possibly the brightest I've ever seen, probably bright enough to have been

seen in broad daylight. Some of the objects viewed were Vega, Albireo, M57, M13,

M31-32, Jupiter, M27, M15, the Veil Nebula, The Double Cluster, and the Owl

Cluster. We pulled out around 10:00 pm.

John Sgouros

The event started around 7:45 with an excellent lead-in star lecture by Jim Roe.

The crowd was VERY pleased with the "Called Shots" on the mag -8 flares and the 

ISS flyby too.  The few stragglers that hung around until just before 1opm got to 

see Jupiter and its' moons for dessert.   We especially noted to those folks that

we do this "every Friday night" at Broemmelsiek. 

This beach location is far from perfect, but it is workable.  North-South is very good,

but trees block 50% of the sky East & West.  We had no real problems with traffic,

but had headlight issues with cars coming into the lot.  In addition to the Scouts

and their families, it was reported that we also had guests from the Sierra Club who

were also camping (at Camp Cuivre).      - Jim T.

Progress South Elementary #2 - Oct 4, 2011

posted Oct 5, 2011, 6:59 AM by Jim Twellman

The weather continued to be in our favor this evening.  The haze noted this morning was not evident at sunset. Manning scopes again were Marv Stewart, John and Kate Sgouros, and myself. The first wave of kids came out just before 7:45.  They were shown views of the Moon, the Andromeda galaxy M31, the double star Mizar, the globular cluster M13, and the planetary nebula M57.  The last wave of kids got to see Jupiter and its' four moons as it climbed up over the tree line.  Jupiter managed to show a little detail, even so far down in the atmosphere. 

The kids were great and the teachers and counselors were on top of things. We finished the last group right at 9PM.  We had about 80 students plus teachers and counselors for a total estimate of 100.  I hung around for a little to get a glimpse of comet Garradd in the moonlight before packing up.

Jim T

Jim

John

Kate

Progress South Elementary #1 - Oct 3, 2011

posted Oct 4, 2011, 7:02 AM by Jim Twellman

The skies were gorgeous as we set up four scopes at Camp Derricotte just before sundown.  John and Kate Sgouros brought their refractor and the 13"Coulter dob, Marv Stewart brought the 8" Lightbridge, and I brought the 8"SCT.  We got the first customers at 7:45pm.  They came out one class at a time (20-36) and divided up into 4 lines.  In addition to showing them objects thru the scopes, they got to see the Milky Way (show of hands typical of 50% that had not seen it ever before), some constellations, and a view of the new Chinese space station (Tiangong-1) naked-eye.

Scope views included :   the Moon at 1st Qtr, the Ring Nebula M57, the double star Albireo, the globular cluster Messier 13, and the Andromeda galaxy M31.   When I showed Albireo I had a lot of questions about "what two stars are we looking at?" even after I pointed out with my laser pointer that we were looking at Albireo (it was somewhat unclear that magnification split this single star).  Some were confused as to why one glob (M13) was different from the other "glob" (M31).   The sky was quite transparent, so I'm guessing that the fuzzy stuff (not resolved) was more of a conceptual problem.  I would then point out to them the Milky Way again, and the fact that our (naked) eyes do not resolve the stars even in our own galaxy, which looks a bit fuzzy too.  It is regretful that we did not have a good planet to show, since Jupiter did not clear the trees until we left.  The last group finished up at 9:15 and we were packed and leaving by 9:30.

The kiddos were well behaved and had good teachers with them.  The kids' version of Albireo's colors were quite varied, as usual.  A single shared Focus is one issue ("rainbow" and 3-5 colors seen), but there is also something different regarding either perception or ability still at this age.  The teenage counselors and teachers' color answers were much less varied.  I'm sure that color-blindness enters into this equation as well.

It was a beautiful evening all in all.  We had a lot of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' to remind us of why we enjoy doing this.

Dardenne Elementary - 9/27/2011

posted Sep 28, 2011, 6:49 AM by Jim Twellman

It was partly cloudy for John Sgouros, Marv Stewart and myself when we arrived around 7pm.  The kiddos were doing paired square dancing on the volleyball court as we set up, which really took me back to my own experience as a child camping at Cuivre River about 4 decades before.  It also reminded me that my oldest son, at that age, had to learn to do the "Two Step" with a girl in Katy Tx to the tune of "The Cotton-Eyed Joe".  We were optimistic that the clouds would thin out, but we knew that we'd have at least some degree of hide-n-seek.  John brought along Kate and a second scope for her to utilize.  So we had a refractor, an 8" dob, a 13.1" dob, and an 8" SCT all set up in a row at Camp Derricotte.   

We got started around 7:45 and finished up at 9:00.   I was surprised that we finished that soon, but evidently we had 90 people instead of the 132 that was expected.  Due to this, instead of platoons switching in and out, we had the whole crowd at once, with lines of around 20 at each scope. It went okay, but it was evident that it was more of a challenge due to the necessary crowd control.   The teachers and counselors were great.  They were on top of things and did a good job, but I could tell that the longer lines were not easier on anybody.  The two things that stood out for me was (1) trying to talk above the noise, and (2) folks piled up too close to the viewer, making him'/her less comfortable.  This was seconded by Marv.  He & I agreed that a 10 person line max. works a lot better.   It wasn't bad tonight, just noticeably not as good.

I pointed out the Milky Way when addressing the group just before we headed to the telescopes.  This was right after they turned off the lights at the volleyball court, so I'm not sure how many could really see it.  I was glad to later hear a teacher ask the students about our place in the Milky Way, after they were more adjusted to the dark. I'm sure that half of these kids had not previously seen their home galaxy.  I showed M57 (the Ring Nebula) at 132x in my SCT all night, with only a few, very short "blackouts" of cloud cover.  I believe Marv, John, and Kate were showing views of M13, M22, Albireo, and Mizar.  Jupiter had not cleared the trees yet by the time we left, but was up nicely in the east for the drive home. I knew that an Io shadow event was going on and I was almost tempted to head to Broemmelsiek for a night cap, but decided to let my back rest instead.

We were fortunate with the weather tonight and we were glad to have given some of these kids their first look through a telescope.  I hope they can come on out to Broemmelsiek on our Friday Night Open Houses to see Jupiter in the next month or so.

Jim Twellman

Broemmelsiek - Friday Night 9/23/2011

posted Sep 24, 2011, 9:39 PM by Jim Twellman

I arrived at Broemmelsiek about 6:45 and saw flashing lights in the field next to the observatory.  It was the Park Ranger marking off extra parking space for the expected large crowd.  I opened up the observatory, and also setup my 8" SC.  By 7pm about 20 people were there with me and more cars were coming in quickly.  From the first family there I was answering questions non-stop, from both adults and kids.  One lady and her family brought a 8" dob, so I helped them with it.  The collimation was way off, so I took care of it first.  Next was dialing in the finder scope.  All the time more folks were poring in, by 7:20 there had to be 150 people there, surrounding me 360 degrees.  I was like a SM Black home in the middle of a galaxy, if I moved, the bulge moved with me.  About 7:40 Jim and Yvonne showed and saved the day.  With Yvonne handling crowd control, Jim and I only had 80 or 90 people each, the night got much easier.

It was still early so I pointed to Mizar and let everyone look at a nice double star and was easy to point out with my green laser pointer. I didn't know it at the time, but Jim was looking at Albireo, so double stars were the main course for the night.  It took about an 60 - 90 min, but the crowd thinned out and we stared looking at a few other objects.  I went to M11 and then Jupiter, and Jim was on M31.

Grant got there about 9:00, (my time could be off, I didn't have time to look at a watch). He setup quickly had a large following of his own.

The night started out cloudy, but cleared out nicely.  It was dewy from the start, and hair dryers were needed often, but the see was good.  Jupiter was beautiful.   

By 10:30 both Jim and I were ready to crash.  We packed up and were on the road by 11.   Grant stayed behind and a non-member showed up just as I was leaving and brought his scope.  I don't remember his name though.  By 10:30 both Jim and I were ready to crash.  We packed up and were on the road by 11.    

There were at least three people there who were interested in joining the club.  I told them where and when we meet, but I didn't get their names.

So, in conclusion..... it was a good night.

Chuck

Discovery Ridge Elementary - 9/22/2011

posted Sep 22, 2011, 6:15 PM by Jim Twellman

Clouds were thick throughout the day of this event.   We had 2 scopes fitted with white light filters plus the Lunt Hydrogen Alpha solar scope.  Once we set up, we took the white-light filters off the two other scopes and lined them up to look at tree tops!

We had a poster, showing printout views of a Hydrogen-Alpha filtered scope showing solar prominences, as well as shots showing white-light filtration revealing sun spots, plus an occasional transit shot of Venus and Mercury.  

They listened as we told them how far away the sun is, what it is made of, and how it makes heat and light.  We also told them other factoids about our sun, and we allowed them to look thru two scopes (at trees) so that they could be more familiar with viewing thru the eyepiece when they come to Broemmelsiek Park for tomorrow night's "Friday Night Open House".

Richard Kamp, Paul Lineberry, Marvin Stewart, and myself handled this event.  We served approximately 220 people (11 classes of about 20 or more each) from 9AM until 1PM.  The kids and teachers were well behaved and were happy that we came and did our "show" despite the cloud-out.

The kids were polled and I believe that a significant number of them (greater than half) will be at Broemmelsiek Park tomorrow night.

Jim Twellman

Lewis & Clark Elementary - 9/12/11

posted Sep 13, 2011, 10:32 AM by Jim Twellman

We had very good weather, but had a full moon for this event.   Approximately 100 fourth-graders plus teachers and counselors for a total of 130 estimated.  Marv Stewart, Jerry Kelly and myself manned 3 scopes, showing mostly the Moon, the double star Albireo, and globular cluster Messier 13.  Counselors came out later (while the kids were going to bed) and got to see Jupiter, along with double star Ras Algethi, the Ring Nebula (M57), the Dumbbell nebula (M27), the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), and Mizar among other things.

We tried but did not see the fly-by of the X-37B as well as an Iridium Flare as predicted by Heavens-above for Troy.  We managed to avoid a third strike when we caught the Hubble Space Telescope skirting the trees only 10 degrees up in the South.  The kids were hurriedly scurrying following it while it ducked thru the treetops.  Quite a few did not know what the Hubble Space Telescope was, but then again they were just 4th graders.

We started out around 7:50 and finished around 10:20pm.   The campers were very appreciative and were well behaved.

Wright City Elementary East - 11/9/2011

posted Nov 9, 2011, 11:09 PM by Jim Twellman

This event was set up by Bill Gatewood of Wright City.  It was coordinated thru the Wright City School District, and supported also by the local Masons.  The evening was a little cold, around 45 degrees at sunset.  Not bad for us, but often a deterrent for elementary kids or their parents.  It was definitely "late" by historical dates of Astro Outreach "road shows".

Bill had gotten local media attention, and it was well promoted.  Despite the temps, the skies were beautiful and we had at least 60 attendees.  Over 50 of them came early to listen to the introductory presentation given in the school cafeteria, that Bill had prepared.  That presentation started at 6:30 and marked the official beginning.  Some of us had scopes set up earlier, since sunset now is 5pm.  A short handful came by for an early treat.  The crowd here was mostly elementary school parents and their children.

In addition to Bill Gatewood's scopes and mine, scopes were manned by Chuck Simms and Jerry Kelley.  We entertained views thru scopes of Jupiter, the nearly full Moon, M15 globular, M57 Ring Nebula, and other items.

Our efforts were well appreciated, and Bill is considering a Spring effort here as well. I noticed several very interested and well-informed kids whose parents knew of their child's passion for this.  That alone made it worth my time.  My only regret was that very bright nearly full moon that we had shining over us tonight!  Good for a public event, just hard and less rewarding to look at dimmer deep-space objects  I invited all of them to our Friday Night Open House events, so maybe we'll see some of them in the near future at Broemmelsiek Park.

Jim Twellman

Fort Zumwalt North - Astronomy Class presentation

posted Oct 29, 2011, 12:15 AM by Jim Twellman

Per request for telescopes for a show-n-tell I brought two scopes and performed a solo presentation at Francis Howell North high school.  I set up on the grass median next to visitor's parking, which was a short walk outside from the classroom.  Three classes composing 70 students had opportunities to look at my two scopes, and to look thru them as well.  The classes were currently studying how telescopes work, so it was a good opportunity to look at real scopes from inside and out.

I was still nursing a bad back, so I dragged out my 4.25" Edmund Newtonian reflector.  I had hoped to also do solar projection with it, but the setup that I chose proved to be too much effort while handling two scopes.  So, I let it be the Show-n-tell scope and pointed it at a nearby cell tower, complete with birds!  It helped to have a scope focused on a terrestrial point, to let the observer learn how to position their eye to the light cone of an eyepiece's focus. It also sparked comments on the views being upside-down.  That led back to the illustrations of the focal diagram, which nicely shows this upside-down effect.

I set up my 8" SCT with a white-light solar filter and left it to follow the sun while the students looked at the sun spots on the white disk.  A very large sunspot was dead-center, and several smaller spots were scattered across Sol's disk.  I had a large poster showing the sun in various filters and events (Ha, white light with Mercury transit, solar projection showing Mercury transit, and yesterday's Spaceweather.com solar picture).  I did experience some problems with this scope's drive, and believe that I have a bad wiring connection to work on soon.  My poster included a picture of the sun from the prior day showing the position of the sunspots to compare to their observations today.

We started out at 11:35 and finished by 2:35.  The teacher (Lauren) was very helpful and the high school students were well behaved.  The school had a big rivalry game coming up, and the Cardinals in the World Series game 7 also were topics of great interest and excitement.

The students were informed of our presence EVERY Friday night at Broemmelsiek Park and business cards with our club's name, web site, and Yahoo! Group name  were given to those who were interested.  I hope and expect a couple handfuls of these students to visit us at Broemmelsiek Park in the very near future.  Each class had some good questions and they were a lot of fun to share with.

Jim Twellman

One sunspot was so large, you could see it at 1x with a simple filter.

Boy Scout Fall Encampment 10/22/2011

posted Oct 23, 2011, 9:50 AM by Jim Twellman

It was a mostly cloudy sky as I left home and headed to Troy, and I'm wondering if we'll see anything tonight.  I arrived at the Troy fairgrounds at 6:40pm and see that Mike Clemente is already setup and waiting for the clouds to clear in front of Polaris, so he can do his alignment.  Few stars are visible at this point, but we can see the summer triangle.  While I’m setting up, the first couple of visitors arrive, and father and son sneaking over early to beat the crowd.  I did a quick one star alignment on Altair and then moved to Jupiter, who was still low on the horizon and covered with high clouds.  It wasn't the best view, but you could faintly see two bands and one moon, but baggers can't be choosey. 

Jerry Kelley got there a little before 7pm and started setting up.  At the same time the first wave of scouts came in and we were open for business.  Jupiter stayed in the scope for the first hour and a half, but always had clouds over it.  Most of the time you could see it with your eyes through the clouds, but even when you couldn't, it was always visible in the scope.  Then about 8:30pm I lost it completely.  Looking up I could see a clearing was on it way so I continued to talk to the group showing pictures of Jupiter and it's moon with my iPad.  Just as I was explaining to a couple of scouts that had stuck around that Jupiter would pop out any time, it happened, the King arrived.  It was beautiful, the bands were clear, and Callisto, Europa and Io formed a triangle above it, with Ganymede far below it.  I quickly centered and focused it and opened it up to the crowd.  What came next was over an hour of Ooh's and Ahh's, Awesome's, and other adjectives that meant they liked what they saw.

By 10pm the crowd had thinned to a few diehards and Mike and I did a last call to look through the scopes.  We started breaking down about 10:15 and we looked up to see a large cloud bank rolling it.  Perfect timing.

Mike had move around a lot more than I did.  Objects I know he looked at are Albireo, Vega, M13 and M57 and M45.  Jerry had a taken on a young Padawan and let him guide the scope.  This young man had found Jupiter, Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiadies, and a few more I don't remember.  Jerry was still there when Mike and I left around 10:30.

It turned out to be a great night and we guessed there were 100 to 150 people.  I know we had a lot of repeats once the clouds cleared. 

I got home in time to see Albert hit a homer and the Cards win 16-7.  Yes, a good night indeed!

Chuck

Well, Tonight WASN'T a total "Bust" after all.  Early, we were fighting clouds that were almost opaque.  In fact we were having a lot of trouble seeing Jupiter, through them.  So I issued a challenge to some scouts that were milling around to see who the first one was that could see it, because I couldn't.  A 14 yr old Scout was the first one and as a "Reward" got to be the Telescope Operator of my 12 inch Dob, for the whole evening.  So, during the evening, as different parts of the sky would clear temporarily, we did a little hopping around looking at various objects, including M-57, M-56, M-31 & 32, Albireo, M45,, the Double Cluster, The OWL Cluster,, Epsilon Lyrae, M15, M2, the Pleaides & of course Jupiter several times at both Low & High magnifications, as the sky permitted.  My young Scout found most of these objects with very little help from me, but would always ask "Is This It"?  Occasionally he was aimed wrong, but for the most part he was dead-on.  He'd never looked through a telescope before, but he had a lot of fun tonight. I also had my 15x70 Biniculars with me & passed them around among the Adults that were there, finding bright objects, naked-eye, then giving them the Binocs & letting them find things on their own.  There were several gasps & WOWs from the adults when they saw the Double-Cluster & the Pleaides & M31

- Jerry Kelley

Cuivre River Boy Scout camp, 10/15/2011

posted Oct 16, 2011, 5:53 PM by Jim Twellman

Another successful astronomy viewing at the Cuivre River State Park beach parking lot for the campers there last night. I guesstimate we had over 100 Cub

Scouts, their parents and siblings, and campers looking through four telescopes

that Mike Clemente, Jim and Yvonne Roe, Jim Twellman, and myself had set up. It

was very dark there and because the Moon hadn't risen yet, the Milky Way was

very easily seen. We were also treated to the International Space Station (ISS),

two Iridium flares, and a Russian satellite flyover. One of the Iridium Flares

was possibly the brightest I've ever seen, probably bright enough to have been

seen in broad daylight. Some of the objects viewed were Vega, Albireo, M57, M13,

M31-32, Jupiter, M27, M15, the Veil Nebula, The Double Cluster, and the Owl

Cluster. We pulled out around 10:00 pm.

John Sgouros

The event started around 7:45 with an excellent lead-in star lecture by Jim Roe.

The crowd was VERY pleased with the "Called Shots" on the mag -8 flares and the 

ISS flyby too.  The few stragglers that hung around until just before 1opm got to 

see Jupiter and its' moons for dessert.   We especially noted to those folks that

we do this "every Friday night" at Broemmelsiek. 

This beach location is far from perfect, but it is workable.  North-South is very good,

but trees block 50% of the sky East & West.  We had no real problems with traffic,

but had headlight issues with cars coming into the lot.  In addition to the Scouts

and their families, it was reported that we also had guests from the Sierra Club who

were also camping (at Camp Cuivre).      - Jim T.

Progress South Elementary #2 - Oct 4, 2011

posted Oct 5, 2011, 6:59 AM by Jim Twellman

The weather continued to be in our favor this evening.  The haze noted this morning was not evident at sunset. Manning scopes again were Marv Stewart, John and Kate Sgouros, and myself. The first wave of kids came out just before 7:45.  They were shown views of the Moon, the Andromeda galaxy M31, the double star Mizar, the globular cluster M13, and the planetary nebula M57.  The last wave of kids got to see Jupiter and its' four moons as it climbed up over the tree line.  Jupiter managed to show a little detail, even so far down in the atmosphere. 

The kids were great and the teachers and counselors were on top of things. We finished the last group right at 9PM.  We had about 80 students plus teachers and counselors for a total estimate of 100.  I hung around for a little to get a glimpse of comet Garradd in the moonlight before packing up.

Jim T

Jim

John

Kate

Progress South Elementary #1 - Oct 3, 2011

posted Oct 4, 2011, 7:02 AM by Jim Twellman

The skies were gorgeous as we set up four scopes at Camp Derricotte just before sundown.  John and Kate Sgouros brought their refractor and the 13"Coulter dob, Marv Stewart brought the 8" Lightbridge, and I brought the 8"SCT.  We got the first customers at 7:45pm.  They came out one class at a time (20-36) and divided up into 4 lines.  In addition to showing them objects thru the scopes, they got to see the Milky Way (show of hands typical of 50% that had not seen it ever before), some constellations, and a view of the new Chinese space station (Tiangong-1) naked-eye.

Scope views included :   the Moon at 1st Qtr, the Ring Nebula M57, the double star Albireo, the globular cluster Messier 13, and the Andromeda galaxy M31.   When I showed Albireo I had a lot of questions about "what two stars are we looking at?" even after I pointed out with my laser pointer that we were looking at Albireo (it was somewhat unclear that magnification split this single star).  Some were confused as to why one glob (M13) was different from the other "glob" (M31).   The sky was quite transparent, so I'm guessing that the fuzzy stuff (not resolved) was more of a conceptual problem.  I would then point out to them the Milky Way again, and the fact that our (naked) eyes do not resolve the stars even in our own galaxy, which looks a bit fuzzy too.  It is regretful that we did not have a good planet to show, since Jupiter did not clear the trees until we left.  The last group finished up at 9:15 and we were packed and leaving by 9:30.

The kiddos were well behaved and had good teachers with them.  The kids' version of Albireo's colors were quite varied, as usual.  A single shared Focus is one issue ("rainbow" and 3-5 colors seen), but there is also something different regarding either perception or ability still at this age.  The teenage counselors and teachers' color answers were much less varied.  I'm sure that color-blindness enters into this equation as well.

It was a beautiful evening all in all.  We had a lot of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' to remind us of why we enjoy doing this.

Dardenne Elementary - 9/27/2011

posted Sep 28, 2011, 6:49 AM by Jim Twellman

It was partly cloudy for John Sgouros, Marv Stewart and myself when we arrived around 7pm.  The kiddos were doing paired square dancing on the volleyball court as we set up, which really took me back to my own experience as a child camping at Cuivre River about 4 decades before.  It also reminded me that my oldest son, at that age, had to learn to do the "Two Step" with a girl in Katy Tx to the tune of "The Cotton-Eyed Joe".  We were optimistic that the clouds would thin out, but we knew that we'd have at least some degree of hide-n-seek.  John brought along Kate and a second scope for her to utilize.  So we had a refractor, an 8" dob, a 13.1" dob, and an 8" SCT all set up in a row at Camp Derricotte.   

We got started around 7:45 and finished up at 9:00.   I was surprised that we finished that soon, but evidently we had 90 people instead of the 132 that was expected.  Due to this, instead of platoons switching in and out, we had the whole crowd at once, with lines of around 20 at each scope. It went okay, but it was evident that it was more of a challenge due to the necessary crowd control.   The teachers and counselors were great.  They were on top of things and did a good job, but I could tell that the longer lines were not easier on anybody.  The two things that stood out for me was (1) trying to talk above the noise, and (2) folks piled up too close to the viewer, making him'/her less comfortable.  This was seconded by Marv.  He & I agreed that a 10 person line max. works a lot better.   It wasn't bad tonight, just noticeably not as good.

I pointed out the Milky Way when addressing the group just before we headed to the telescopes.  This was right after they turned off the lights at the volleyball court, so I'm not sure how many could really see it.  I was glad to later hear a teacher ask the students about our place in the Milky Way, after they were more adjusted to the dark. I'm sure that half of these kids had not previously seen their home galaxy.  I showed M57 (the Ring Nebula) at 132x in my SCT all night, with only a few, very short "blackouts" of cloud cover.  I believe Marv, John, and Kate were showing views of M13, M22, Albireo, and Mizar.  Jupiter had not cleared the trees yet by the time we left, but was up nicely in the east for the drive home. I knew that an Io shadow event was going on and I was almost tempted to head to Broemmelsiek for a night cap, but decided to let my back rest instead.

We were fortunate with the weather tonight and we were glad to have given some of these kids their first look through a telescope.  I hope they can come on out to Broemmelsiek on our Friday Night Open Houses to see Jupiter in the next month or so.

Jim Twellman

Broemmelsiek - Friday Night 9/23/2011

posted Sep 24, 2011, 9:39 PM by Jim Twellman

I arrived at Broemmelsiek about 6:45 and saw flashing lights in the field next to the observatory.  It was the Park Ranger marking off extra parking space for the expected large crowd.  I opened up the observatory, and also setup my 8" SC.  By 7pm about 20 people were there with me and more cars were coming in quickly.  From the first family there I was answering questions non-stop, from both adults and kids.  One lady and her family brought a 8" dob, so I helped them with it.  The collimation was way off, so I took care of it first.  Next was dialing in the finder scope.  All the time more folks were poring in, by 7:20 there had to be 150 people there, surrounding me 360 degrees.  I was like a SM Black home in the middle of a galaxy, if I moved, the bulge moved with me.  About 7:40 Jim and Yvonne showed and saved the day.  With Yvonne handling crowd control, Jim and I only had 80 or 90 people each, the night got much easier.

It was still early so I pointed to Mizar and let everyone look at a nice double star and was easy to point out with my green laser pointer. I didn't know it at the time, but Jim was looking at Albireo, so double stars were the main course for the night.  It took about an 60 - 90 min, but the crowd thinned out and we stared looking at a few other objects.  I went to M11 and then Jupiter, and Jim was on M31.

Grant got there about 9:00, (my time could be off, I didn't have time to look at a watch). He setup quickly had a large following of his own.

The night started out cloudy, but cleared out nicely.  It was dewy from the start, and hair dryers were needed often, but the see was good.  Jupiter was beautiful.   

By 10:30 both Jim and I were ready to crash.  We packed up and were on the road by 11.   Grant stayed behind and a non-member showed up just as I was leaving and brought his scope.  I don't remember his name though.  By 10:30 both Jim and I were ready to crash.  We packed up and were on the road by 11.    

There were at least three people there who were interested in joining the club.  I told them where and when we meet, but I didn't get their names.

So, in conclusion..... it was a good night.

Chuck

Discovery Ridge Elementary - 9/22/2011

posted Sep 22, 2011, 6:15 PM by Jim Twellman

Clouds were thick throughout the day of this event.   We had 2 scopes fitted with white light filters plus the Lunt Hydrogen Alpha solar scope.  Once we set up, we took the white-light filters off the two other scopes and lined them up to look at tree tops!

We had a poster, showing printout views of a Hydrogen-Alpha filtered scope showing solar prominences, as well as shots showing white-light filtration revealing sun spots, plus an occasional transit shot of Venus and Mercury.  

They listened as we told them how far away the sun is, what it is made of, and how it makes heat and light.  We also told them other factoids about our sun, and we allowed them to look thru two scopes (at trees) so that they could be more familiar with viewing thru the eyepiece when they come to Broemmelsiek Park for tomorrow night's "Friday Night Open House".

Richard Kamp, Paul Lineberry, Marvin Stewart, and myself handled this event.  We served approximately 220 people (11 classes of about 20 or more each) from 9AM until 1PM.  The kids and teachers were well behaved and were happy that we came and did our "show" despite the cloud-out.

The kids were polled and I believe that a significant number of them (greater than half) will be at Broemmelsiek Park tomorrow night.

Jim Twellman

Lewis & Clark Elementary - 9/12/11

posted Sep 13, 2011, 10:32 AM by Jim Twellman

We had very good weather, but had a full moon for this event.   Approximately 100 fourth-graders plus teachers and counselors for a total of 130 estimated.  Marv Stewart, Jerry Kelly and myself manned 3 scopes, showing mostly the Moon, the double star Albireo, and globular cluster Messier 13.  Counselors came out later (while the kids were going to bed) and got to see Jupiter, along with double star Ras Algethi, the Ring Nebula (M57), the Dumbbell nebula (M27), the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), and Mizar among other things.

We tried but did not see the fly-by of the X-37B as well as an Iridium Flare as predicted by Heavens-above for Troy.  We managed to avoid a third strike when we caught the Hubble Space Telescope skirting the trees only 10 degrees up in the South.  The kids were hurriedly scurrying following it while it ducked thru the treetops.  Quite a few did not know what the Hubble Space Telescope was, but then again they were just 4th graders.

We started out around 7:50 and finished around 10:20pm.   The campers were very appreciative and were well behaved.

Girl Scouts @ Camp Tuckaho 9-4-11

posted Sep 5, 2011, 11:54 AM by Jim Twellman

The air was pleasantly cool and the skies were clear.  That and no bugs meant a very good night for all!

This event was postponed from Saturday to Sunday night, due to heavy clouds and rain Saturday night.   The front had moved thru, and the transparency was great.   The moon was a bright first quarter in Scorpius.  I'm not much for the moon, but even a lunar novice like myself had to enjoy the "lunar X" that I saw this evening.   It was on the dark side, with light streaming across the terminator forming the 'x'.  It was the first time that I had ever seen it, and we were proud to show it to those who viewed the moon tonight.  It is visible for only about 4 hours, just before 1st quarter.

We had around 70 girl scouts, families, etc. this evening, starting from just before 8pm and lasting until just after 11pm (hanging until Jupiter came up around 10:30 over the tree line).   Seeing was so-so, perhaps even poor, but transparency was really good.

Stacey Thater manned my 8" Celestar and I danced with my 16" hot water heater. I hope that Stacey's neck feels okay tomorrow...  

Here's a list of what they got to see:

Hubble Space Telescope

Moon at 1st qtr, lunar x

Double Cluster in Perseus

Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1)

M13, M57, M81, M82, M11, M31 (32, 110)

Albireo

Jupiter

Comet Garradd showed just a bit of tail despite the moonlight, but it was real hard for non-astro nuts to discern.  I think the big winner was probably the Double Cluster, girls always seem to like bright open star clusters.  Albireo and M57 were also winners.   The moon was a favorite for the smaller kiddos.  It is easier for their eyes to latch onto something big, bright, and easy.

During a short break around 11pm, I took a peek at M101, to see if I could see the new supernova there.  It was VERY hard to discern M101, but I am very familiar with that star-hop, and could barely make out some fuzz with averted vision.  There was a ~11 mag star on one corner, with no other stars seen across what "face" of M101 that I could see.

Clouds started rolling in around 11pm, and it was mostly cloudy when I got home.  The temps had sure cooled down. It was in the upper 90's just a day ago.  What a difference a day makes!    This group had quite a few folks with perhaps a "closet-appreciation" for astronomy.  As usual, I enjoy giving views to everyone, but those who really dig it are a special treat and a pleasure to serve.

Jim Twellman

Klondike Campout - 9/2/11

posted Sep 3, 2011, 10:42 AM by Jim Twellman

Re: [STLAstronomy] Re: St Charles County Parks Event - FAMILY CAMPOUT, 9/2/2011, 7:30 pm

We had a steady stream of people all evening ... I'd guess we had a total of 50 people. 

Because it was a family camping event, we had a lot of kids.  Several of them had specific requests to see objects to satisfy school or scout requirements.  It was fun to help them.Chuck & I set up in the parking lot trying to get some reasonable horizons because of the trees.  The ranger closed the gate to the parking lot so we wouldn't be run over.

In addition to the list supplied by Chuck - M13, M92, & M57

Chuck & I quit at 10:00 P.M.

Jim Trull

Smokin' in Sunset Hills, MO

-------------------

Some of the objects we viewed were: Moon, Albireo, Mizar, M3, M5, M11, and comet Garradd, (c/2009 P1).  Some of the folks who stopped by earlier in the evening were not with the campers, but just out enjoying the park. 

Chuck

Indian Camp Creek Park - June 4, 2011

posted Jun 6, 2011, 9:41 PM by Jim Twellman

It was our first open public scope event at this park, and as a result we had some confusion over where to set up.  In the end, we had a pretty good site (shelter #6) with easy hiking from the campsite and plenty of parking.  It was hard for me to gauge the sky quality here, since there was quite a bit of haze that night.  Our site had a nice grassy area, with a layout that reminded me of our usual setup site at Klondike.   This is a cool park!

The public showed up shortly after sunset (8:15).  Some had conflicting information and were re-directed from Broemmelsiek.  Approximately 25 people looked thru scopes provided by Jim Roe (8" SCT), Grant Martin (4" refractor?), Chuck Simms (8" SCT) and myself (16" dob).  Early viewers saw the 4-day old crescent moon and Saturn.  As it got darker, there were added views of the globular star cluster M3, its' bigger cousin M13, the double star Algieba (Gamma Leonis), the double star Albireo (Beta Cygni), M57 (Ring Nebula), and M51 (Whirlpool galaxy) very late.   We were about to pack up, when another group of approximately 25 (scouts and families from the camp) drove in.  It seems there were a couple of emergency room visits that delayed their coming!  These kids were up late (it was about 10:15 at this time) but were very well behaved and seemed to really enjoy the views.  Some last looks and we started packing up shortly after 11pm and left around 11:20.

Best views on this hazy night were the globs in my opinion.  We had plenty of bugs, but not too many cicadas (thank goodness).  The rangers took good care of us and the crowd.  It was a fun night and I was glad to finally get a chance to try out this park for stargazing.  I think that we will see a lot more action here in the future.

Jim Twellman

Astronomy Day - Broemmelsiek Park, Saturday 5-7-11

posted May 8, 2011, 10:25 AM by Jim Twellman

This was originally a date on our ASEM / St Charles County Parks calendar, but was eliminated in March.  Despite that, and the fact that it was the day before Mother's Day and was mostly cloudy,  a few of us set up at Broemmelsiek at 8pm to handle what folks may come.

Only the supporters were treated to an appearance of the ISS about 15 minutes after sunset.  It was barely visible in the still blue sky, probably one of the earliest times after sunset that I had ever seen it.

Approximately 12 students and a teacher arrived, along with a few others to see what the skies would reveal this evening.  Spring constellations were pointed out, and telescopic views of Saturn, the Moon, the globulars M3 and M13, double stars Alpha Hercules and Iota Cancri, the planetary nebula NGC 3242 (the Ghost of Jupiter), and galaxies M81 and M82 were enjoyed.  Bino views of open clusters M44 (the Beehive) and Melotte 111 (Berenice's Hair) were also shared. The students were especially inquisitive, and were fun to entertain.

By 11pm the public was finished, and we packed it in.  By this time the clouds were really thinning, but the 19% full moon was still almost 90 minutes from setting .   Spring skies are certainly more chancey than autumn skies, but it was nice to be out in the open air and managing two nights in a row under the stars for a change.

St Clement School - May 6, 2011

posted May 8, 2011, 10:25 AM by Jim Twellman

Mostly cloudy skies, with few sucker holes, were present around sunset (8pm) but we proceeded with this event with hopes that it would improve.  The temperatures were perfect, and the ground was not muddy at all.

The crescent moon was enjoyed soon after sundown.  At times covered by clouds, but mostly giving nice views of its' craggly surface.  Saturn was up next. Again, the seeing was poor fairly often, but the rings were visible and occassional showed nice detail.  As the evening went on views got slightly better, but far from great. Still, the open patches of sky grew larger, and it was not difficult to work around the clouds.  Objects shown were the great Spring globular cluster M3, galaxies M81 and M82 in one field of view, the colorful double star Iota Cancri, and open clusters M44 (the Beehive) and Melotte 111 (Bernice's hair) thru binos.  Approximately 25 students and parents came out despite the mostly cloudy skies, and stayed around until closing around 10pm.

There were a few kids and adults that hung around for extra views, which was the reward for hanging in there.  Despite the clouds and less than desirable viewing conditions, a nice variety of objects were viewed that were representative of Spring skies.   It has been a wet and cloudy Spring season, and we were fortunate to have a night out to see some of the wonders of the universe on this evening.

Dubray Middle School, April 21, 2010

posted Apr 21, 2011, 7:04 PM by James Roe

Four ASEM members (Jim Twellman, Richard Kamp, Grant Martin and Jim Roe) set up solar telescopes at the Dubray Middle School in St. Peters from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm to help them observe Earth Day.  Three of the telescopes used white light filters that showed two nice sunspot groups while the Club's 60 mm H-alpha scope showed prominences and a nice filament.  There were some 300 students plus numerous teachers and helpers at the event that went very well, contrary to the weather forecast.

Dubray Middle School Event

Boy Scout Event, 4/1/2011

posted Apr 8, 2011, 8:08 PM by Jim Twellman

Well, we had a great outing for the scouts. Chuck Simms was there ahead of me, I got turned around a bit in the park. We had two 8" SCTs, one on Saturn and one on the Orion nebula, and my xt6 swinging to different targets. Eventually Chuck's scope was moving around too.

We had about 40 or 50, maybe fifteen of which were elementary age. We held their attention for about twenty minutes. Then they ran off to play and the adults were much more fascinated with the show. A few teens showed up later, and they stuck around too. One or two of them asked some pretty good questions, and I learned that one was planning to major in chemistry. He had a lot of questions about fusion in stars and such, and was a great student for us.

We showed them...

Saturn, M42, M35, NGC 3242, M45, M44, Mizar and Alcor, and probably at least one or two others. Sky was clear, transparent, and I thought it was pretty steady too by 9:00 or so. It is dark at that park.

Joe Pastor

Camp Tuckaho, 4/2/2011

posted Apr 8, 2011, 7:33 PM by Jim Twellman

The event went off pretty good! The cool weather caused a few folks to leave the camp early, so the crowd was just about the right size. Larry Campbell came along at the end of the first wave and entertained the crowd with bino views of the Pleiades and the Beehive. The estimated # of scouts and parents was 120, with about 6 groups of 20 each every 20 minutes. We gave views from around 8:15 until around 10:15.

I had the 8" SCT tracking on Saturn, which supported the seeing a lot better tonight than it had last night (239x tonight). Saturn was bright enough to see thru the occasional thin cirrus clouds that played around.

The dob spent most of the evening on M42, but occasional clouds caused some folks to view either M3 or M35.

The girl scouts were very appreciative and we enjoyed the thank-you's as much as the ooh's and wow's. I had a little more problem with scope pushers tonight than usual, and I'm still not sure why. Girls are usually better listeners.  I'm guessing it was related to sleep deprivation!

The dusk-to-dawn light at the camp entrance is still there. I could deal with it better than the very frequent headlights that seemed to pass by us every 5-10 minutes. The kitchen building was close by and had lights as well, but they were much less bothersome. There is another good observing area here (ballfield?). It should be used unless they are having a bonfire. We should have used it tonight. Summer and fall events here usually have a bonfire, but none tonight.

The girls provided me with a Coke and offered S'mores (which I turned down, not wanting sticky stuff on my eyepieces!).

All in all, it was a great evening, and I'm glad that I didn't pull the plug on it. I was severely tempted to, with skies being cloudy most of the day. A big "thanks" to Larry. His help was timely and very appreciated.

Jim Twellman

Scouts at the 8" SCT viewing Saturn at 239x

Saeger Middle School Science Club, 18 Feb 2011

posted Feb 23, 2011, 8:49 AM by James Roe

Yvonne and Jim Roe presented a talk on Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity to 14 middle school students and their teacher Pat Zeitz on Friday, 18 February 2011 at the Saeger Middle School on Highway N in Cottleville, Missouri.  The topic (chosen by the students themselves) was a bit over their heads but we made an attempt to illustrate the main points.  There were (as usual with youngsters) a wide ranging series of questions after the main presentation.  We can expect more interaction with this group in the futur

e.

Broemmelsiek Open House Events - 2011

posted Jan 30, 2011, 10:38 AM by James Roe

28 January 2011

The skies were reasonably decent after weeks of inclement weather for the first open house of 2011.  Some 18 folks showed up to get their photon deprivation syndrome eased.  Jupiter was still high enough in the early evening but Orion captured the most attention.  We also enjoyed the "Winter globular," M79.

Winter time fun in the dark

11 February 2011

Only two people showed up.  It was cold, windy and partly cloudy.

18 February 2011

Estimated 32 people showed up even though there was a full Moon.  Some were taking pictures.

11 March 2011

30 people showed up.  Clouds formed early but cleared up enough by 8:00 pm to show them the Orion Nebula and the Moon.  By 9:00 pm Saturn peeked over the East wall of the observatory enough to get a quick look.

18 March 2011

22 People showed up.

1 April 2011

18 people showed up.

8 April 2011

22 People showed up.

29 April 2011

49 people showed up.

Saeger Middle School - November 9, 2010

posted Nov 10, 2010, 8:53 PM by Tom Richards

Tom Richards, Marv Stewart, Mark Shea, and John Sgouros brought out their personal telescopes (all newtonian/dobsonian types, ranging from 8 to 13 inch in aperture), along with teacher Pat Zeitz's Orion XT8, to the tennis courts just north of the school, for a star party that began at 7PM.  Despite lights from the adjacent school complex parking lot and light clouds passing over from the south, some 50 students and 12 adults were treated to several objects, including a (setting) crescent Moon, Jupiter, Uranus, the Double Cluster, NGC457 Owl Cluster, the M57 Ring Nebula, Albireo, and M31. The students enjoyed the program, that lasted just over an hour, and fliers of ASEM and Broemmelsiek Park were handed out; we expect a few new guests will be visiting the Astronomy complex at the park in the future.

John Sgouros

Progress South #2 at Camp Sherwood, October 5, 2010

posted Oct 6, 2010, 9:57 PM by Jim Twellman

The same "Team" of scope operators (Tom Richards, John Sgouros, Marv Stewart, and myself) made it back for an encore presentation, the second night in a row at Cuivre River State Park.  This was our last scheduled school camp for the year, and a pleasant chill was in the air.  The weather forecasts were all looking great, and I knew that these campers were lucky to have such a great night at this park with its' great views of the Milky Way.

Three classes of around 30 students each, plus counselors and teachers came out for views of M31, M13, Albireo, Jupiter, and Comet 103P/Hartley.  Total count was estimated at 70. The event got started just a little early, with the first group coming out around 7:15.  That group missed out on some DSO action, but was treated to an Iridium Flare satellite event.  We gave each class a short talk instructing them of proper safety and procedure around telescopes and ladders.  I pointed out the Milky Way and asked the Fifth graders how many had never seen it before.  More than half of their little hands went up for each class.

One kid at my scope quipped "Omigosh!  You gotta see this!" while looking at M13. The Milky Way was very bright, and the last class had a view of Jupiter that included a Red Spot transit (sans the South Equatorial Belt).   I could tell that this camp was on its' second day (comparing to its' sister camp at Derricote the night before).  The kids were more ripe than the kids from the night before (in more ways than one), but not terribly so.

We finished the last group around 9:30.  John and Marv packed quickly on this "school night", but Tom and I hung around to take some advantage of these great skies.  Unfortunately, the dew fell hard again and things got drenched. Eyepieces went into pockets for warmth and protection.  This was followed by headlights from the park security officer, who was anxious to lock the gates.  We endured both and kept on for a while.  We packed up and got out around 10:15, but not before getting in a few "selfish" views... 

Tom shared a very nice and sharp view of the Little Dumbell (M76) with me. I stole glances at the Veil and the Helix first, while really fighting the dew. I wiped my trusty 30mm eyepiece for one last try.  If not for the dampness, the seeing and transparency tonight was excellent (for Missouri!).  That proved itself when I nailed the Bubble nebula (with my OIII filter on but without consulting a star chart).  It was a little bloated and lacked sharpness due to eyepiece fogging, but was very noticeable.  Only my second time seeing it, out of dozens of tries.

We love Cuivre River State Park on moonless nights this time of year!

Jim Twellman

Progress South #1 - Camp Derricote 10-4-2010

posted Oct 6, 2010, 9:47 PM by Jim Twellman

There were four telescopes set up by Jim Twellman, Marv Stewart, Tom Richards

and John Sgouros. Four classes of fifth graders got to see M13, Jupiter,

Albireo, M31, and Comet 103P Hartley. It was chilly but clear. The dew fell hard

and this camp does not have the good horizons but everyone had a good time. We

left around 10:00 pm.

John S.

This camp had about 100 fifth graders, plus counselors and teachers, for a total count

of around 110.  The "show" started around 7:40 pm.   The dew was not a problem until

just as we were finishing around 9:40 pm.  The kids were pretty good at this camp and

we got lots of "Thank You's" to go with the "Wow"s.

Jim T.

Camp Derricotte - 28 September 2010

posted Sep 30, 2010, 11:20 AM by James Roe

Last night Jim and Yvonne Roe, Marv Stewart, Tom Richards, and myself set up telescopes at Camp Derricotte for the Dardenne Elementary fifth graders. There were approximately 80 kids plus counselors and teachers. They were treated to Jupiter, Albireo, and M31 Andromeda Galaxy. The sky was mostly clear with a few high thin clouds drifting by later in the viewing session. The dew fell hard early and Tom and I were the last to leave shortly after 10:00.

John Sgouros

Marvin Stewart, Yvonne and Jim Roe presented a telescope viewing event for 5th graders from Westhoff Elementary School (Ft. Zumwalt) who were in camp at Camp Cuivre, Cuivre River State Park on 27 September 2010.  The early evening started off cloudy but Jupiter finally appeared and both telescopes were trained on it.  Clouds danced around for a bit, but all the 100 or so students and 20 or so teachers and teenage counselors got good views and expressed many thanks.

Oktoberfest at St. Charles River Front Park - 24 September 2010

posted Sep 30, 2010, 10:54 AM by James Roe

Yvonne and Jim Roe set up the club shelter and Jim's ETX-125 on a busy sidewalk at the 2010 Oktoberfest event in St. Charles.  Jim put the telescope on Jupiter as it was rising over the Missouri River and Yvonne provided information to the crowds about our activities, especially the free open house events at Broemmelsiek Park.  Most had not heard of the astronomy site but all were happy at the view of Jupiter and are likely to join us on Friday nights in the future.  We really couldn't count the people but it was easily over 100 as the line never stopped until will packed up at 10:00 pm.

This is an excellent way to reach even more people and will work in the daytime with the solar telescopes.  If anyone knows of future events similar to this where we can participate, please contact Jim.

Friday Night Open House + Discovery Ridge elementary - Sept 24, 2010

posted Sep 26, 2010, 6:15 PM by Jim Twellman

We had great weather for the event last night, and had quite a few kids from the elementary school as well as folks who showed up for the open house itself.  This was a very well-attended event with clear skies and a very bright moon.

I was a bit surprised that we did not have a Park Ranger visible at this event, but they did provide a hay wagon for some extra parking, and that was the part I was most worried about.

Since we had no host/hostess and no ranger at the front, a reliable count was impossible. We had a signup sheet up front, showing a count of 51 (with two members). Based on a poll of other members' estimates, we probably had at least 130 guests plus members. One wagon load brought in about 40 or 50 by itself.  The total count could very well have exceeded 150.

Some of us got there early due to parking concerns, but the first guests did not show until it was nearly sunset (good). A big "thank-you" to all those who brought scopes and helped out. ASEM members that I can recall being there include Venus Patel - (at the Observatory), Chuck Simms, John Sgouros, John Furlong, Amy White, Tom Richards, Steve Boerner, Joe Pastor, Jim Trull, Larry Walton, and myself. Bill '?' was also with us, doing some astro-imaging and showing the folks the results on his computer screen.

A highlight of the evening for me was seeing Jupiter and Uranus in the same FOV (several scopes).  John S. (and possibly others) also managed to pull out Neptune for the public. Not so easy in the very bright moonlight. The planet Venus put on a nice show early on, with a nice big crescent shape. Other items shown include M11, M13, M57, Albireo, etc.

Jim Trull and myself tried out a couple of old Meade electronic eyepieces and video screens on the moon and Jupiter. The main idea here was for viewing ease by the K-3rd graders who often have a difficult time seeing anything at an eyepiece, as well as for the dad's who often have to hold their kids up to the eyepiece...

The video screen seemed to draw some kids like moths to a flame. The quality on this was not very good, but did get some positive reaction from the public.  It was a bit of a pain to operate this. The moon was the best target on it by far.

I saw at least one Discovery Ridge teacher there, as well as several of the students that we had shown the sun to the day before.

The kids were pretty much done by 10:30, and when the crowd thinned we still had several adults keep showing up, the last group of which were 5 adults who arrived after 11:00. A gentleman set his scope up next to mine around 10:30, and Chuck and others helped him collimate his 4" Celestron newtonian and get him "in business". He was still there enjoying himself after I left around 12:30 am. I think Chuck also had a late neighbor set up next to him with a nice small scope.

There were a lot of 'thank-you's' last night to go with the oohs and aahs. It was a nice sized crowd and the temperatures were so nice after the hot summer nights we've been accustomed to.

Jim Twellma

".

Discovery Ridge Elementary - Solar Scope Event - September 23, 2010

posted Sep 26, 2010, 5:33 PM by Jim Twellman

This event was in response to a request by this new school's principal.  It was kind of new ground for us, but it went extremely well.  The school dedicated several days for fun and learning that they termed "Discovery Days".  The new schools' mascot: STARS !

Jim & Yvonne Roe and myself arrived at the school around 8am and got set up.  Our first "customers" lined up around 8:45 and we had a constant flow of eager little eyes until we closed down around 2pm (minus a 20 minute lunch period, which was very nice).  It was a very warm day, but we had a good little breeze.  The younger (k-2) kids were to be entertained by a visit from a helicopter after we left.

The kids who viewed thru the scopes consisted of the school's 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes only.  They numbered 190 kids, plus teachers and administrative folks for a total tally in excess of 200.   Each of them were shown the sun thru one of ASEM's two solar scopes.  Several prominences were seen (and they changed significantly between each class), along with sunspots.  Later viewers could also make out a solar 'filament'.   Kids were asked to draw what they saw when they got back to class.

We explained how the view of the sun that they had during that hour would be different from the view that other classes had.  We had posters about the sun (thanks Amy!) taped to the outside wall for them to read while they waited their turn.  We also gave them some safety warnings and explained a bit of what they saw and answered questions for each class (x 6).

The kids were reminded of our evening program at Broemmelsiek Park the following night.  We had lots of "WOW's" and the kids did a great job of saying "thank you".  I also received a nice thank-you from the school's principal afterwards. 

The two solar scopes proved enough to handle this 200 person event.  Each kid had 30 - 60 seconds to view the sun, so no one was rushed. The children were well-behaved and the teachers were a big help as well.  I'm encouraged that we can do more such events like this in the future.

Jim Twellman

oe.

Lewis & Clark Elementary - Cuivre River State Park - September 13, 2010

posted Sep 14, 2010, 8:53 PM by Jim Twellman

Last night John Furlong and I set up at Camp Derricotte for the Lewis and Clark

5th graders. John had the 100x25 binocs and I took my Coulter 13.1" Dob and WO

110mm APO refractor. The first group of kids came out at 7:30 and looked at the

Moon. They were treated to the ISS. I looked for the IR flare but never saw it.

Venus was in the trees by the time we were set up and Jupiter never climbed

above the trees. The second and third groups got to see Albireo and M22 in

addition to the Moon. In total we had about 110 kids and supervisors. Clouds

crept in shortly before 9:00 and we were packed up and gone by 9:20.

John Sgouros

Forest Park Elementary - Cuivre River State Park - September 13, 2010

posted Sep 14, 2010, 8:36 PM by Jim Twellman

Last night we split forces and had two camps to serve. Marv Stewart and I went

to Camp Sherwood to show the stars to about 100 fifth graders from Forest Park

Elementary.

I arrived around 7pm and found Marv with his 8" dob already set up. I unloaded

and set up my 8" SCT and my 16" dob. While we were talking with the school's

principal (but before the kids came out, unfortunately ) we observed the ISS

passing overhead.

The kids came out shortly after (around 7:45pm), but we did not observe the

Iridium flare that was predicted. Very few stars were out, and Jupiter had not

yet cleared the trees. So, we showed the moon in two scopes, and I managed to

squeeze the double star Albireo from the still-bright sky in the third. As it

got darker, M57 (the Ring) and M22 (glob) were shown. Finally, Jupiter cleared the

trees and was viewed, along with its' four moons.

Clouds started invading slowly from the northwest. By the time we were showing

to the 3rd wave of 25-28 students, we only had Jupiter. For some reason, I

managed to find Albireo in a thin patch of clouds in my 16". As the clouds

overtook and obliterated the view of Jupiter entirely, I was able to maintain a

view of Albireo nearly overhead for the entire last group of campers. It was

not able to be found in my 8x50 finder, so had I lost it I would not have been

able to recover it.

We finished up around 9:20 and I packed up and was out before 10pm. It was a

successful evening, we took what was available and made the most of it. Kids

were well-behaved, and hopefully learned something and enjoyed themselves.

Jim T.

Camp Tuckaho - September 5, 2010

posted Sep 9, 2010, 7:05 AM by James Roe

Members present sunday night at Camp Tuckaho were Jim and Yvonne Roe, John Furlong and John Sgouros. Stacy Thater was there camping. There were many families, a large group of boys, and even grandparents. I estimate about 50 guests. Seeing was poor but didn't matter for deep sky objects. Guests saw M13, M92, M22, M31, M57, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. It started clouding up shortly after 10:00 pm.

John Sgouros

St. Charles County Family Camp Out Night - September 4, 2010

posted Sep 5, 2010, 3:24 PM by James Roe

Last night (Saturday, September 4, 2010) at Klondike County Park members present were John Furlong, John Sgouros, Tom Richards, Grant Martin, and Jim & Yvonne Roe.  The skies and sunset was as beautiful as it was in the Spring; a few pictures were taken during set-up (see slide-show, below).  I estimate we had approximately 40-50 guests visit our telescopes. There was a small group from a local high school. They started out as a teacher and 4 or 5 students but I think the students called some friends and later looked like 10 students. Many small children with parents in tow were very excited to get to look through telescopes. Guests were able to view Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, M8, M20, M16, M17, M13, M22, M57, M27, M31, M32, M92, M11, M15, M2, M73, M73, and several NGCs. The last members packed up and were out around 12:30. 

John Sgouros

__._,_.___

Broemmelsiek Park Open House - September 3, 2010

posted Sep 4, 2010, 10:47 AM by James Roe

The regular Friday open house of the observatory at Broemmelsiek Park was with glorious weather (for a change) but was sparsely attended - approximately 30 people showed up.  A possible explanation is that this was the start of the 3 day Labor Day weekend.  Nevertheless, I good time was had by all.

Fairwinds Senior Center - September 3, 2010

posted Sep 4, 2010, 10:42 AM by James Roe

Jim Roe addressed about 20 residents of the Fairwinds Senior Center in St. Charles, Missouri on September 3, 2010.  He told them of the history of Alliance for Astronomy and ASEM, discussed the development of the astronomy site at Broemmelsiek Park and its activities, invited them to come out for telescope viewing and ended by fielding questions of a more general astronomy interest.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2010

posted Aug 13, 2010, 11:20 AM by James Roe

The Perseid Meteor shower happens every year in mid-August and this year we had two favorable conditions - no Moon in the sky and (relatively) clear skies!  With co-sponsorship by the St. Charles Parks and Recreation Department, ASEM operated telescopes and helped with the overall event.  The Parks personnel estimated some 200 members of the public attended.  I opened the 10-in observatory about 8:00 pm before it was fully dark, located Venus and Saturn in the LX-200 and folks started streaming in.  I didn't step outside until 11:30 pm or so  I showed Venus and Saturn, then turned to deep sky objects when it got darker.  I showed M13, M57, M27, M22, M11, M8, M51 (faint but detectable), Mizar and Albireo.  Yvonne helped orient the public and took lots of pictures of happy campers.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2010

Solar Observing - August 8, 2010

posted Aug 8, 2010, 4:08 PM by James Roe

The International Space Station was scheduled to transit the disk of the Sun on August 8, 2010 at 10:42 am as visible from a narrow strip that passed across Lake St. Louis.  We wanted to try to capture this using the Lunt 60mm H-alpha telescope and a web cam.  We thought why not do it in public and turn the event into a guerrilla astronomy project?  Accordingly, we sought and received permission to set up near the front door of the Lake St. Louis Schnuck's store near the intersection of Lake Saint Louis Boulevard and US40/61/I-64.  We had previously placed a notice in the local newspaper (Newstime).

We set up about 10:00 am to be ready for the event and we (myself, Yvonne and Colleen Kelley) invited passersby to view the Sun safely and told them what we were about to do.  About five minutes before hand, we removed the eyepiece and substituted the web cam, focussed it and chose a piece of the Sun to view.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a guessing game as the full Solar disk is much too big to be recorded by that set up.  We missed, so no images.

BUT, there were about 35 folks who viewed the Sun, some of which who had come out especially because of the newspaper item and some of which who had been to our Friday night open houses.  It was a good event and highly suggestive of what we can do in the future - maybe a Wal-Mart on a payday?

Solar Viewing - August 8, 2010

Public Open House - August 6, 2010

posted Aug 8, 2010, 4:00 PM by James Roe

It was a dark and humid night  :-)  but we estimate some 85 people showed up for viewing through the many telescopes (8 or so) assembled for the moonless night.  The parking lot was full at one point and people were still coming at midnight.  Chuck Simms ran the 10-in in the observatory building and Jim Roe operated the 16-in.Marv Stewart, Tom Richards, Brad Griffith, Ron DeVenitz provided their personal telescopes.  There were several (at least three) non-member telescopes present as well.

Public Open House August 6, 2010

Quail Ridge Park 10th Anniversary

posted Jul 26, 2010, 3:26 PM by James Roe

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first park in the St. Charles County Park system, the Parks department through a big party at Quail Ridge Park on Sunday, July 25, 2010.  ASEM was invited to provide an information table inside and an observing station outside.  Parks personnel estimated there were 600 members of public throughout the 4 hour event and we estimate about 1/3 of them stopped by to look at the Sun through our solar telescopes (in between passing clouds, that is).  Most had not heard of our activities, especially the Friday night open houses at Broemmelsiek Park but we provided them with an information sheet with a map.  There were some repeat "customers" though.

A BIG thanks goes out to those who braved the heat to make this great presentation for the public:  Amy and Ed White, Kirk and Carol Steinbruegge, Jim Twellman, Chuck Simms, John Sgouros, Marv Stewart, Larry Campbell, David Tung, Jim and Yvonne Roe.  See images below for a flavor of the event.

Quail Ridge 10th Anniversary

Broemmelsiek Park event - July 17, 2010

posted Jul 20, 2010, 9:23 PM by Jim Twellman

The heat WAS pretty oppressive, but temps were manageable once the sun set. A rare breeze

was enjoyed, but there was no real reprieve. I was soaked from head to toe when I got home

and felt the full effect of the A/C.

Both the volunteers and those of the public that attended did so in spite of this sauna-like weather,

so all involved must have really loved astronomy.   Either that, or they were just plain nuts for being

there on such a hot night!

[ Guests visiting with John Sgouros and his 13.1" Coulter ]

The parks department noted a total of 59 attendees, including the volunteers as well as members

without scopes.

Among the items enjoyed were: Venus, Mars, Saturn, Albireo, a Herc (Ras Algethi), M13, M11,

M22, M57, M27, M8 (The Lagoon Nebula looked really good once the OIII filter was added), and

the 1st quarter moon, of course.

Among those who managed scopes that night were members: Jim & Ann Trull, Grant Martin,

Kirk Steinbrugge, Brad Griffith, John and Lynn Sgouros, Marv Stewart,  and Cyril Post, as well

as my son Mike and myself.   In addition, scopes were operated by Marc Arnold, Marty Crandall-Grela,

and Dave Koerner.Jim and Yvonne were big helps also. Yvonne helped to greet and to enlist help as

needed,  while Jim Roe helped fix the jammed garage door opener on the roll-off observatory, and

helped collimate the Star Master, which was off considerably. So, at least ten scopes.

We were fortunate to have a clear night for this event, although the heat was tough on everyone.

I am looking forward to some clear (and cool?) weather next Sunday afternoon for the 10-year

anniversary at Quail Ridge Park.  Hopefully we'll show some sunspots in addition to solar

prominences in our solar scopes there.

Jim Twellman

Public Open House, Friday, July 2, 2010

posted Jul 10, 2010, 3:32 PM by Tom Richards

While every pad at the Broemmelsiek Park Astronomy complex had a scope on it way before sunset, with Kirk Steinbruegge/Jim Roe at the 16 inch dob, Chuck Simms in the Observatory with the 10 in SCT, the club was "ready to rumble" with a show of the stars and planets, but visitor attendance seemed a touch light this night, around 25.  This was not surprising, due to lateness of the evening this time of the year, with true Astronomical darkness not starting till 10PM  or so, and the number of families with children is slim at that hour of the day.  But adults, both young and old, and couples who love the night skies, do show up to see the sights, even close to midnight.  Regardless, visitors or no visitors, with such unusual clear cool skies at the beginning of July in the Saint Louis area, everybody who came was just having a great time observing til around midnight. Some members, Jim Roe on the 10 inch, Mark Shea (with his new C8) and Tom Richards, were even enjoying the night to do some AstroPhotography, while Grant Martin was "in the zone" with his home-made dob and desk.  After the moon had popped up, which was way past midnight, and the temperature dropped below 60, the fearsome foursome called it a night.  What a beautiful cool evening and night we all had.

Public Open House, Friday June 25, 2010

posted Jun 27, 2010, 10:49 AM by James Roe

About 35 members of the public enjoyed views of the (finally) clear skies provided by eight ASEM members.  Even though the Moon was full  visitors saw Venus, Saturn, Mars, the Moon and M13.  There was lots of enthusiasm and, hopefully, many will come back or to other club meetings.

Scout night at Broemmelsiek park - 5/22/2010, 8:00 pm

posted May 23, 2010, 10:09 PM by Jim Twellman

The event went very well. I arrived at Broemmelsiek Park at 7:30PM and found

Brad, Marvin, Chuck, Dennis Scalion, John Furlong and Larry already setting up

under perfectly clear skies. The temperature was about 80 degrees and a slight

wind was present - a great start.

The first wave of Scouts showed up at about 10 after 8.  There were about 10

scouts with siblings for a total of nearly 18, 7-9 year old girls – all talking very fast

and at the same time! Along with them were about 10 of their parents – all

apparently relieved to turn the brood over to someone else for a while.

John offered some advice regarding crowd control at the telescopes: "Divide the

crowd into groups of 4 yoots and one adult. The adults will be briefed on

telescope courtesy and etiquette and then responsible for their charges." That

was great advice which worked extremely well! Thanks a bunch John.

While John was briefing the adults, I took the kids over to the parking lot and

we "talked" about the solar system and astronomy in general as we walked a

quarter of the 1000 yd solar system. Several of the kids had a really good grasp

of astronomy! I felt a bit like the victim on that TV show "Are you smarter than

a Fifth grader"!

After that, everyone put together a planisphere and we went about learning how

to use it.

As it got dark, I unleashed the horde into the hands of the other volunteers and

chaos was averted thanks to Johns counseling and firm supervision.

At about 9PM a second group of Scouts showed up. These were the Cub scouts from

pack 972 looking to get belt loops by learning how to operate a small telescope.

There were 10 boys from about age 7 to 10. They were accompanied by 7 more

adults. They were as enthusiastic as the girls but the adults were in a bit more

of a control mode.

We lined the scouts up in height order, tallest first, and one by one I showed

them how to use a 4" f4 StarBlast: Move the axis, use the finder and then focus

on the Moon.

That took about 20 minutes and they all learned pretty fast. Most of `em seemed

to get a real kick out of it.

As I foisted this bunch on the volunteers, the park seemed like a madhouse on

the verge of chaos. Groups of kids with parents in tow were moving from scope to

scope and having a pretty good time with the ASEM members (I can only imagine

what it must have been like up at CRSP!).

The park returned to normal by about 10:30 and we closed the park at midnight as

the clouds rolled in.

I think we had a bit more than 50 individuals in the park – some locals had come

by and there were two people who showed up with scopes on their own.

I want to thank Brad, Marvin, Chuck, Dennis, John and Larry for coming out and

helping. This would have been a real experience without their help!

-Grant Martin

Cuivre River State Park - Girl Scout camp - May 22, 2010

posted May 23, 2010, 11:14 AM by Jim Twellman

The weather certainly obliged us for this event! We had 5 scopes operated by

John and Kate Sgouros, Jim and Yvonne Roe, and myself. The crowd at Camp Derricote started

us early, around 8:30, and scopes were aimed only at the moon and Venus for

about 15-20 minutes until Saturn became visible. Other treats shown once

darkness arrived were globs M13, and M3, double stars Mizar, Iota Cancri, and

Algieba, as well as M51 and others.

[ John S. and daughter Kate getting ready]

We had 2 main waves of 50+ girl scouts each plus their parents and occasional

siblings for an estimated total of 130. Most of the girls were 4-5th graders I

believe. The "other 50" went on a short "night-hike" while we worked the half

who were at the scopes.

The bugs were present, but not nearly so bad as expected. I noticed no

mosquitoes, but had to smack at least one June bug and one firefly that buzzed

my head.

[John and Kate, Jim and Yvonne, getting set up]

The kids were well behaved. We tried to keep lines of less than 10 per scope,

which always works best. Lots of "ooh"'s and "ahh"'s, but I definitely heard

mostly "Wow"'s over the course of the evening. One of the girls asked why the

planet or moon that she was looking at had "that line through it", not realizing

that she was looking at Saturn.

The seeing was very good. I had Saturn up to 406x in my 8" and the rings showed

well. I could also see (with averted vision) all of the Little Dipper stars

naked-eye, so the transparency - at least on the other side of the sky from the

moon - was also pretty good. Any DSO within 60 degrees of the moon was

completely obliterated by the moonlight. That part of the sky was simply

out-of-bounds.

A few of the girls asked questions that may have been needed for belt loops etc,

but we gave no formal program. Our effort was primarily of the entertainment

variety.

As we started tearing down at 10:30 I asked some of the few remaining campers

what their favorite views were. Some said "the moon", others "Saturn", and

several said "that glob thing"! I had to agree that the very craggy view along

the moon's terminator tonight was quite a show.

I talked to our hosts for quite a while as I packed up, and got home just before

midnight. The sky was still mostly clear but a few clouds were showing before I

closed the garage door and went to bed.

We couldn't have been more fortunate with the weather on this event, but I think

we were due for a night that wasn't threatened with a tornado watch!

Jim Twellman

St. Clement Elementary, Bowling Green MO - April 9, 2010

posted Apr 13, 2010, 10:28 PM by Jim Twellman

The weather could not have been more perfect for this evening.  After sunset, the main attraction was Venus, followed by Mercury (sporting a half-full phase at 226x).  As it got darker, the attention turned to Saturn at 226x, along with views of M42 (Orion Nebula), galaxies M81 & M82 as well as the Whirlpool galaxy M51, globular cluster M3, and double star Iota Cancri, all at 60x.

The students had several constellations pointed out to them with a green laser, and were informed of the distance of most objects in light-years.  Once, I was trying to explain to a student how far a light year is, and before I could finish "Light travels at a speed of.." someone chimed in "186,000 miles per second".  Someone was paying attention in class!

The crowd total was around 36 people plus myself.  Folks enjoyed views thru the scopes from approximately 7:45 until 9:45pm.

Jim Twellman

Saeger Middle School - Jan 13, 2010

posted Jan 14, 2010, 7:33 PM by Jim Twellman

The cold winter temps eased up a bit and allowed this event to be pleasant.  It was around 43 degrees at sunset.  Grant Martin and I set up our scopes along with the school's 8" Orion dob handled by the teacher, Pat Zeitz.

It was a school night, along with other extracurricular activities, so the crowd was down from last year.  About 6 people stayed for views the entire time (roughly 6:30 to 7:45), one kid was in shorts and no coat the entire time.  Another dozen or so popped in for only about 10 minutes, for a total of 18 visitors (plus Pat).   Items viewed thru the scopes included: Jupiter,  the Pleiades (thru Grant's 2.5" Celestron 1st scope dob), the Andromeda Galaxy, Gamma Andromeda, Mars, the Orion Nebula (M42), Hind's Crimson Star (R Leporis), and M15 glob in Pegasus.

The sky was clear but the seeing seemed to come and go a lot, especially limiting at high magnifications.   The upper atmosphere was evidently churning as milder air was flowing in from the south.  Lots of parking lot lights at this location, you needed to shade your eyes more than 180 degrees.  It is about as difficult here as it is at the planetarium in Forest Park.  I was unable to pull out the Crab with my 16".   Aperature does not rule, dark skies do.

Despite the seeing and the glare, I was very glad to get the scope out.  I think it was the first time in over two months, due to the very wet, cloudy, and cold weather of late.  I hope our luck gets better soon.

Jim Twellman

Klondike Park - Saturday October 17, 2009

posted Oct 18, 2009, 4:04 PM by Jim Twellman

The last event with the St Charles County Parks for this year took place at Klondike Park.  This year, daytime festivities were added as well.  ASEM volunteers set up shop at the Art Fair there featuring members' astrophotography and some fun kids astro art.  Volunteers included Jim Stegeman, Annette Rolls, Marv and Barb Stewart, Amy White, plus Jim and Yvonne Roe and grandkids.   The skies were cloudy in the afternoon, so the solar scopes did not come out to play.

The evening's events were in support of a full campground.  The clouds parted around sundown (6:20 pm), and the skies turned out to be great. Approximately 55 guests plus club members showed up.  Those bringing scopes included Jim Roe, John Sgouros, Marv Stewart, Brad Griffith, Jim Stegeman, Amy White, and myself of ASEM, and Tom Keutzer of SLAS.   It was fairly cold, with temps in the lower 40's and high humidity.   One group of campers came by three times, going back to camp to warm up in-between.  Most scope operators had their best cold weather gear on. 

Views given to the public included Jupiter, Star Clusters (M13, M15, the Double Cluster, M22), Double stars (Gamma Andromeda, Mizar, Albireo), nebulae ( M57, M27, the Veil), and galaxies (M31, M32).   M31 was not showing a dust lane with any degree of clarity, due no doubt to the amount of moisture in the air.   Views near the zenith were the best by far.

The crowd thinned out by 9:30, and the dew came with a vengeance shortly thereafter.  No outlets here for blow dryers, and resistance was futile.  By the time I packed my scope, the roof of my car was full of frost and the temp had dropped to 36 degrees.

Jim Twellman

Marv describing the fish that got away to Jim Stegeman!

Progress South Elemetary #2 - Tuesday September 29, 2009

posted Oct 18, 2009, 4:02 PM by Jim Twellman

(work in progress)

Jim Roe, Marv Stewart, and John Sgouros handled this event for around 75 kids and teachers at Cuivre River State Park.

Progress South Elementary #1 - Monday Sept 28, 2009

posted Sep 29, 2009, 5:57 PM by Jim Twellman

The weather for this event was clear with a nice taste of autumn.  Marv Stewart (8" dob), John Sgouros (14.5" dob) and myself (8" SCT) brought three scopes and entertained approximately 100 students, camp counselors, and teachers at Camp Derricote CRSP.  Our program began around 7:30 and finished shortly after 9:00.  Campers were shown the moon, Jupiter, and the globular star cluster M22.   A few stragglers got to see M31 (Andromeda galaxy) before the show ended.  The crowd was well-behaved and most told me that it was their first view of Jupiter with their own eyes. 

Jim Twellman

Broemmelsiek Park - 09/25/09

posted Sep 28, 2009, 1:08 PM by Tom Richards

This past Friday turned out to be an amazing evening at Broemmelsiek Park for the children and parents from Westgate Christian Academy (WCA). WCA planned a “Family Stargazing Event” as a part of their reading and math education program and asked Steve and Terry House of Starfield Ministries to direct the event at the park. The weather and sky conditions you could say was likely an answer to someone's prayer for the evening (and day), since forecast the night before for the St.Louis area was again clouds for most of the day on Friday, just like every day since the beginning of the week, with no better than a 35% cloud cover for the evening. But, to everyone's amazement, the skies cleared mid-day and stayed that way the whole day, and into the evening. So, not only the little kids got to enjoy clear skies and see sights they have never seen before, the big kids (with their scopes) got to enjoy themselves once again (HA), after nearly 3 weeks of clouds and poor visibility in St.Louis.

With Steve and Terry providing a Christian instructional program to some 65-70 children and parents (and grand-parents) from WCA about the heavens and what is up there to see.  All got to see great views of the constellations, 1st quarter moon and cool craters, Jupiter, bright deep sky objects (since the moon had lite up the sky), color binaries, and an ISS pass-over that kicked off the program at 7:15. The kids were really getting a treat this night.

Steve and Terry had their Starfield Ministries scopes there: a 12.5 in homemade dob, 6 in D&G refractor operated by Carissa Day (Will Day's daughter), an 80mm Onyx refractor, and a hand-crafted 12.5" f/6 walnut wood scope made and provided by Darren Marhanka. In addition, members and friends of ASEM were there with scopes in support of public viewing and by being there, this added many more scopes to peak through, especially for those attending the WCA event.  It turned out to be nearly a "full house", with most of the pads occupied.  Of those I remember coming out for ASEM, willing to share their views, (and I apologize for anyone I missed here): Jim and Yvonne brought the newly donated 14.5 Starmaster dob scope out, Jim Stegeman and Frank Kobylanski manned the 10inch SCT in the observatory, Jim Twellman came with his monster Meade 16 in dob, Jim Trull was there with his refreshed LX90, myself with my trusty 8in newt, and Vinod Vydier with a 10 in dob (I believe)

.

Since the park's reputation is getting around the area, a few others showed up after the event, with and without scopes. It has been estimated that there was another 20 total that showed up to catch the sites through the scopes; this included 5 teenagers arriving at midnight with a small reflector to join in for a short while. A few more serious scope owners arrived later too for visual and AstroPhotography fun. Other than the usual dew that hit hard late (boy, was I glad I brought the hair-dryer this time! HA), all in all it was a great time and a nice change to be out there under a clear starry sky from horizon to horizon.  I had to tear myself away around 2AM - just didn't want to leave.

Pictures shown are with the permission of Steve House and Starfield Ministries

Broemmelsiek Park - 09/19/09

posted Sep 20, 2009, 9:45 PM by Jim Twellman

The clouds were thick tonight.

With hardly a hole in the clouds, we still had 40+ people show up at B-siek (public + members). Seven (or more) members showed up:  Chuck Simms, Jim & Yvonne, Bob Judd, Don Ficken, John Furlong, and myself . It drizzled off and on. The observatory was open for "viewing" (of the observatory), and Jim Roe brought a projector and showed the latest Jack Horkheimer video.  Jim Roe also brought out the club's most recent addition:  the 14" Star Master.  It looked really sweet and I can't wait to see some views thru it soon.  

We spoke to folks, showed them the tops of telephone poles and the like in our scopes, and packed up around 8:15. 

A few folks showed up late to mull around and talk. A small hole opened up around Jupiter. We dug some gear back out and we managed to see a good view of Jupiter, with 3 moons and an Io shadow on Jupe for about 10 minutes.

We cleared out for good around 9:45.

I was amazed that with the skies as bad as they were, that we still had 40 people show up.  Despite the skies, the public got to see equipment and talk about astronomy.

Our last public session in association with the St Charles County Parks for 2009 will be Sat Oct 17 at KLONDIKE PARK near Defiance

Approximately 55 campers attended this telescope event at Klondike.  Four telescopes were provided by John Sgouros, Cook Feldman, Joe McHugh, and myself.   Most guests viewed objects from around 8:15 to around 9:30.

Views of Jupiter, M13, M27, M31/32, Albireo, and other objects were shown.   The crowd was about 80% families with small children, and about 20% teenagers, and all were well-behaved.  The weather was not very accommodating.  The cirrus clouds were abundant, never blocking the views but compromising them a lot.  The seeing was very steady, and views of Jupiter often yielded great detail - multiple bands and color not often seen.

In-between the kids and the teen showings we managed to catch a nice view of the Veil nebula and comet Christensen, as both were in the somewhat friendly area around the zenith.  Nothing below 45 degrees of the zenith was really worth looking at. The cirrus clouds did not dissipate, and we packed up and left around 10:30.

Jim Twellman

Broemmelsiek August 22, 2009

posted Aug 30, 2009, 10:13 PM by Jim Twellman

The weather for this event was partly cloudy, but it was fairly well attended.  Scope support was provided by the following members:  Jim Trull, Chuck Simms, Amy & Ed White, John & Lynn Sgouros, Brad Griffith, and myself.  In addition, several guests brought scopes:  Jim Stegeman, Tracy & Ryan, Ron Devintz(?), John  and Todd.  We had at least a dozen scopes plus the roll-off observatory manned.

Views shown included Jupiter, Neptune, Albireo, M8 (Lagoon), M27 (Dumbbell), M57 (Ring), Comet Christensen, and much more.  Approximately 65 guests plus ASEM members attended. My apologies for any names I may have missed or have incomplete.

The next St Charles County Parks (public) event is Sat. Sept. 19.

Jim Twellman

Broemmelsiek Park Star Gazing, July 25, 2009

posted Jul 26, 2009, 3:53 PM by James Roe

The regularly scheduled public star gazing event in Broemmelsiek Park took place under brilliant skies (for once).  An estimated 185 visitors came out for the evening's activities that included a highly visible pass of the International Space Station.  This event also marked the first public use of the Broemmelsiek Observatory which sports a 10-inch Meade LX-200 telescope in a roll off roof observatory building.

Star Gazing in Broemmelsiek Park, July 25, 2009

Broemmelsiek Park - June 19

posted Jun 21, 2009, 9:09 AM by Jim Twellman

The evening sky was clear, notwithstanding the forecasts, and a strong breeze brought relief to the heat and humidity as scopes were getting setup around 7:30 pm.   Among those who brought scopes to this event were ASEM members Will Day, John Furlong, Marv Stewart, John Sgouros, plus Kirk and Carol Steinbrugge, a visiting scope operator, and myself.   Approximately 40 others from the general public stopped in to observe.   Yvonne Roe helped welcome folks in, which is always greatly appreciated.

Everyone enjoyed great views of Saturn early, around 9 or 9:30 pm until it got dark.  Later visitors were shown sights such as globular clusters M3, M5, and M13, as well as doubles stars like Albireo and Mizar, and planetary nebula M57 (the Ring).  These targets, however, were pulled from pockets of sky where the clouds weren't, as the sky was increasingly becoming blanketed as the sky got dark.  By 10pm the end was near, as lightning was visible at the western horizon, and the packing began.  All of us were packed and out by 10:30, and the rain fell in buckets within minutes.

The evening was far from a scratch, we had a successful event despite the shortness of it. Saturn was the main event, but I heard some nice "ooh's" from folks on M13 and M5 as well. 

Jim Twellman

                                            Guests, plus John F. and Jim T. posing around Marv's 8" truss dob at dusk.

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Cub Scout Pack 35 - June 6, 2009

posted Jun 9, 2009, 10:51 AM by James Roe

Five ASEM members provided telescope viewing opportunities for the Cub Scout Pack 35 family campout on Saturday, June 6,2009. The campout was at the special use area of Cuivre River State Park.   While there were an estimated 125 people at the camp, only about 30 availed themselves of the service.

The only site available to set up the telescopes was severely hampered by nearby trees.  The full Moon did not clear the trees for some two hours.  The aforementioned full Moon made for less than ideal viewing conditions which were further hampered by  passing clouds.  Nevertheless we were occasionally able to provide views of Saturn and its big moon Titan.

To the right is Kirk S. with the Club's ETX-125.  Below are Mark S. who brought his 6-in RV-6 OTA mounted on a Dobsonian base and 20x70 binoculars and Marv S. who brought his 10-in Meade scope.  To lower right is Jim R with his Meade ETX-125.  Not shown is Yvonne R (who took the pictures).

Klondike Park event - May 30, 2009

posted Jun 3, 2009, 8:18 PM by Jim Twellman

(adapted from various write-ups, mostly by Tom Richards -- JLT)

I wanted to take a minute to express a special  thanks to many scope owners from through-out St.Louis area who showed up. This includes members of both clubs, ASEM and SLAS, as well as private individuals who got the word on the event.

For those who didn't make it, this one was of biggest turn-out of scopes and amateur astronomers that I can remember in very long time; the last count  was 18, which covered the gambit of the ASEM's big bino's, small and giant refractors, SCTs, small and large newtonians and dobs, of all sizes, as well as Alt-Az and GEM mounts to boot. The giant refractors, on 6 foot plus pedestals and tripods, were a real treat as well. With the moon in first quarter phase, it was probably the biggest crowd pleaser (I couldn't look at anything else it seemed until late - lots of star-gazers - an estimated count was around 75), while most others had Saturn and other bright Messiers pulled in to kept the ooh's and aah's going from the crowd.

I didn't catch all the names of those supporting this event, since scopes were arriving while visitors were showing up (and things just got real busy with everyone wanting to take a look at the sights, as these parties usually do when things get rolling), but we have developed a list of those that we believe we supportive of the event:

ASEM and SLAS members:

Marv Stewart  - 8 in Meade Lightbridge "dob"sonian

Tom Richards - 8 in newtonian home-made scope and pipe mount

Jim Trull  - 8 in Meade LX-90 SCT on a powered fork mount

John Furlong  - the ASEM's 100mm giant binoculars

John Furlong  - 114mm reflector

Kirk Steinbrugge - the ASEM's Maksutov-Cassegrain Meade ETX-125

Will Day & daughter Carisa - 110mm Orion refractor on an Orion Atlas GEM

Grant Martin - 127mm Apogee refractor and a 10 in newtonian on an Orion Altas GEM

Jim Feeney - 80mm Meade refractor

Joe McHugh - 8 in newtonian home-made dob

Jim "Cook" Feldman - 8 in newtonian home-made dob

Mark Jones  - 102mm f/15 home-made PVC refractor on a giant pipe mount

Tom Keutzer - 80mm (?) refractor on a grab'n'go mount

Non-club members:

Steve & Terry House - 6 in D&G refractor on a GEM/giant pedestal mount

Mark Farr - 6 in Celestron f/8 refractor on a giant homemade 'Richard Berry' mount

Tim Martin & family  -  6 in Orion StarBlast newtonian

Wayne W. - 12 in Orion Intelliscope dob

Aside from the 'squeeters, which were thick and hungry, conditions were comfortable, slightly humid (but getting worse there as we reached 11PM), and yet despite the forecast, the skies remained clear all night long.   As I noted, the moon and Saturn stole the show.  I tried my 5mm Hyperion on the old 8 in newt  with the moon craters in view and people just kept coming back to look again (I was stuck on the moon till visitors stopped appearing around 11 PM - it was a beautiful view).

Grant Martin, Joe McHugh, and I stayed past midnight with the parks permission, since the skies were still great, the moon was beginning to set and surprisingly, the humidity was improving. So since we were having so much fun, at about 1AM the heavens really opened up, and the DSOs and the Milky Way were punching thru the lighted eastern sky.  The summer sights were great to see again, especially M17 (Omega/Swan Nebula) and M27 (The Dumbell Nebula).  It was a hard thing to pull myself away in the wee hours with such conditions... Just another great memorable night, all the way around.  

Thanks so much to all in supporting this event. I look forward to the next one.

Tom R.

-------

Other notes:  

[1] Our next event is on a FRIDAY at Broemmelsiek Park - Fri June 19

[2] These pix's of Klondike do not do it justice.  It is an extremely beautiful park, and if you've 

       never been there, you owe yourself a visit.

[3] We normally do these events at Broemmelsiek, but we have another at Klondike -

          October 17.  A great time of year to camp and/or visit local wineries.

(4) If anyone feels there is a need to add-to or correct this report, please contact Jim Twellman or Tom Richards of ASEM 

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Broemmelsiek Park event - April 25

posted May 2, 2009, 3:49 PM by Jim Twellman

The weather looked very iffy to start, but we are a determined bunch!

Due to heavily overcast conditions at sunset, we lost out on Mercury, but Saturn proved a nice target, peeking thru the clouds for most of  the first hour. Then the clouds thinned to just the hazy upper-level cirrus. The public enjoyed views of the Orion Nebula (M42), M3 Globular Cluster in Canes Venatici, M35 Open Cluster in Gemini, M44 Open Cluster in Cancer and, toward the end,  the Sombrero Galaxy (M104).  The best stuff is always up at the end of the evening!

I think we had 8+ scopes/binos set up, not bad for such a gloomy forecast!  Scopes at this event ranged from big binoculars to large refractors, 8" dobs and SCTs.  Volunteers included Yvonne Roe, Marv Stewart, John Furlong, Brad Griffith, Kurt and Carol Steinbrugge, John Sgouros and his wife, Will Day and a friend, Amy White and some of her class, and myself. Our sign-in sheet showed 40 visitors. At least a few of these visitors had been to our events in past years ("return customers").

The wind was okay most of the time, but lots of gusts early and a few more later

on for short periods.

Visitors cleared out around 10pm and, given the high cirrus, we packed things up

and cleared out around 11pm.

It was not the best of nights, but we were still able to show some good views to the public.  We were certainly not 'skunked out'.  We considered ourselves lucky, considering the forecast.

The next public telescope event will be Saturday May 30 at Klondike Park near Augusta Mo (south St Charles County, off Hwy 94, near wine country).  Make a day of it!  The county parks department may still have some cabins left.  [For camping reservations, please call (636) 949-7535. ]

Jim Twellman

April 3, 2009 event at St. Clement Elementary

posted Apr 5, 2009, 9:41 PM by Jim Twellman

The skies were clear and the temperature was pleasant for this private outing.  Fourty-six kids

and twenty adults (66) in attendance at this event near Bowling Green.  Actively showing from around 8pm to almost 10pm.   Scopes included my 16" f/4.5 Meade dob reflector,  my 8" f/10 Celestron SCT, and a local parent's 4.5" Alt/Az reflector.   Those in attendance were shown views thru the scopes of:  the moon, Saturn (with rings nearly edge-on), two and/or three moons of Saturn (including Titan), Messier 3 (Globular Cluster), M42 (emission nebula), M81 & M82 (Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy, respectively).

The seeing seemed pretty good, transparency too, but it was hard to gauge with a day-past 1st quarter moon shining high in the sky.  I was pleasantly surprised that Messiers 81 and 82 were as good as they were under such a bright moon.   Saturn was steady, but yielded few details.

My favorite quote was from one boy that voiced disbelief that he was actually seeing Saturn (a trick?), which is not all that uncommon.   Most people will long remember their first view of

Saturn with their own eyes.

About 20 of us also caught a flyby of the International Space Station as it went by just before 8pm.

It was a very good night and seemed to be enjoyed by many.

 - Jim Twellman

Saeger Middle School - February 23, 2009

posted Feb 27, 2009, 10:25 PM by Jim Twellman

Mark Shea (and family!) and Jim Twellman supported the Saeger MS event tonight, amidst a heavy dose of clouds and light pollution.  Pat also brought the school's 8" Orion dob, for a total of 4 scopes plus a nice set of binos.   I counted 40 people in addition to us, and a few more came late, so anywhere from 40-50 on this event.

We observed a nice crescent Venus, a hint of the Orion nebula, and the double star Gamma Andromeda.  The clouds didn't leave us much room, but we made do showing from 7pm to 8:30 pm or so.

Girl Scout Troops 1542 & 2002

posted Feb 25, 2009, 6:18 AM by James Roe

On Friday, February 6, 2009 Jim Twellman spent the evening with 14 Girl Scouts, several parents and neighborhood kids (for a total of 25).  Jim reports showing them the constellations of Orion, Taurus, Casseopeia, Andromeda, Perseus, and Gemini.  Thru the scopes they viewed the Moon, Venus, the Orion Nebula (M42), and the yellow-blue double star - Gamma Andromeda.

On Sunday, February 22, 2009 Yvonne and I attended the Blue and Gold Banquet of Cub Scout Pack 530 in the cafeteria of the Francis Howell High School North.  There were an estimated 300 Cub Scouts and their families in attendance.  Their theme for the banquet was the IYA - International Year of Astronomy.  Many table decorations featured space and astronomy themes.  They had a father/son cake baking contest in which the theme was again, space and astronomy.  Yvonne and I helped judge the entries.   I gave a short  program explaining the significance of the IYA and showed some pictures of our public star gazing events along with the 2009 schedule